Zülal Kaptan, Demet Ünalmış Aykar, Bünyamin Ece, Emine Petekkaya
Kastamonu Medical Journal - 2025;5(4):248-252
Aims: Subfields of the hippocampus have long been held responsible for the pattern separation function of episodic memory. The total neuron numbers of the entorhinal cortex (EC), which gives the major input to the hippocampus, the dentate gyrus (DG), and CA3 and their ratio to each other is thought to be important for the pattern separation process. In this study, the relationship between the volumes of the EC and hippocampal subfields and behavioral pattern separation performance was investigated. Methods: 3D brain MRI images of 39 university students were obtained and the volumes of EC and hippocampal subfields (CA1, CA2-CA3, CA4-DG) were analyzed on the volBrain online automatic brain volumetry system. All participants were evaluated with a cognitive test for pattern separation performance. Finally, the correlation between the volume of brain areas and pattern separation performance score was statistically analyzed. Results: Total and right CA2-CA3 volume had positive correlation with pattern separation score (p=0.036, p=0.028 respectively) and negative correlation with recognition fail (p=0.013, p=0.009 respectively). CA1 volume also had a negative correlation with recognition fail (p=0.040) while the ratio of EC volume to CA4-DG was positively correlated with success of pattern separation (p=0.016). Conclusion: The results contribute to our understanding of memory function by indicating the relationship between EC-to-DG divergence and CA2-CA3 volume with pattern separation.
