Abstract
The hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex are vital for learning and memory. A unidirectional, ipsilateral and monosynaptic projection stems from the ventral and intermediate CA1 regions, and a small portion of the dorsal CA1 region of the hippocampus leading to the infralimbic and prelimbic regions of the prefrontal cortex. The prefrontal cortex is also connected to the hippocampus via indirect connections through the medial temporal lobe and the nucleus reuniens. The cognitive roles that these connections play are still unestablished. Using a chemogenetic approach, we contralaterally inactivated the infralimbic and prelimbic regions of the prefrontal cortex in the right hemisphere and the dorsal CA1 layer of the hippocampus in the left hemisphere. We observed an impairment in the ability of animals to learn and perform a continuous spatial alternation task. The results obtained suggest that this method of contralateral inactivation of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex leads to the disruption of spatial working memory.