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One of the key knowledge gaps in the field of Alzheimer's disease research is the lack of understanding of how amyloid beta and tau cooperate to cause neurodegeneration. We recently generated a mouse model (APP/PS1 + Tau) that develops amyloid plaque pathology and expresses human tau in the absence of endogenous murine tau. These mice exhibit an age‐related behavioural hyperactivity phenotype and transcriptional deficits which are ameliorated by tau transgene suppression. We hypothesized that these mice would also display memory and hippocampal synaptic plasticity deficits as has been reported for many plaque bearing mouse models which express endogenous mouse tau. We observed that our APP/PS1 + Tau model does not exhibit novel object memory or robust long‐term potentiation deficits with age, whereas the parent APP/PS1 line with mouse tau did develop the expected deficits. These data are important as they highlight potential functional differences between mouse and human tau and the need to use multiple models to fully understand Alzheimer's disease pathogenesis and develop effective therapeutic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamma frequency (30 - 80 Hz) oscillations are implicated in memory processing. Such rhythmic activity can be generated intrinsically in the CA3 region of the hippocampus from where it can propagate to the CAI area. To uncover the synaptic mechanisms underlying the intrahippocampal spread of gamma oscillations, we recorded local field potentials, as well as action potentials and synaptic currents in anatomically identified CAI and CA3 neurons during carbachol-induced gamma oscillations in mouse hippocampal slices. The firing of the vast majority of CA 1 neurons and all CA3 neurons was phase-coupled to the oscillations recorded in the stratum pyramidale of the CA 1 region. The predominant synaptic input to CAI interneurons was excitatory, and their discharge followed the firing of CA3 pyramidal cells at a latency indicative of monosynaptic connections. Correlation analysis of the input- output characteristics of the neurons and local pharmacological block of inhibition both agree with a model in which glutamatergic CA3 input controls the firing of CA 1 interneurons, with local pyramidal cell activity having a minimal role. The firing of phase-coupled CAI pyramidal cells was controlled principally by their inhibitory inputs, which dominated over excitation. Our results indicate that the synchronous firing of CA3 pyramidal cells rhythmically recruits CAI interneurons and that this feedforward inhibition generates the oscillatory activity in CAI. These findings identify distinct synaptic mechanisms underlying the generation of gamma frequency oscillations in neighboring hippocampal subregions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamma oscillations in the dentate gyrus and hippocampal CA3 show variable coherence in vivo, but the mechanisms and relevance for information flow are unknown. We found that carbachol-induced oscillations in rat CA3 have biphasic phase-response curves, consistent with the ability to couple with oscillations in afferent projections. Differences in response to stimulation of either the intrinsic feedback circuit or the dentate gyrus were well described by varying an impulse vector in a two-dimensional dynamical system, representing the relative input to excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Responses to sinusoidally modulated optogenetic stimulation confirmed that the CA3 network oscillation can entrain to periodic inputs, with a steep dependence of entrainment phase on input frequency. CA3 oscillations are therefore suited to coupling with oscillations in the dentate gyrus over a broad range of frequencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some interneurons of the hippocampus exhibit NMDA receptor-independent long-term potentiation (LTP) that is induced by presynaptic glutamate release when the postsynaptic membrane potential is hyperpolarized. This "anti-Hebbian" form of LTP is prevented by postsynaptic depolarization or by blocking AMPA and kainate receptors. Although both AMPA and kainate receptors are expressed in hippocampal interneurons, their relative roles in anti-Hebbian LTP are not known. Because interneuron diversity potentially conceals simple rules underlying different forms of plasticity, we focus on glutamatergic synapses onto a subset of interneurons with dendrites in stratum oriens and a main ascending axon that projects to stratum lacunosum moleculare, the oriens-lacunosum moleculare (O-LM) cells. We show that anti-Hebbian LTP in O-LM interneurons has consistent induction and expression properties, and is prevented by selective inhibition of AMPA receptors. The majority of the ionotropic glutamatergic synaptic current in these cells is mediated by inwardly rectifying Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors. Although GluR5-containing kainate receptors contribute to synaptic currents at high stimulus frequency, they are not required for LTP induction. Glutamatergic synapses on O-LM cells thus behave in a homogeneous manner and exhibit LTP dependent on Ca2+-permeable AMPA receptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gamma-frequency oscillations are prominent during active network states in the hippocampus. An intrahippocampal gamma generator has been identified in the CA3 region. To better understand the synaptic mechanisms involved in gamma oscillogenesis, we recorded action potentials and synaptic currents in distinct types of anatomically identified CA3 neurons during carbachol-induced (20-25 µM) gamma oscillations in rat hippocampal slices. We wanted to compare and contrast the relationship between excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents in pyramidal cells and perisomatic-targeting interneurons, cell types implicated in gamma oscillogenesis, as well as in other interneuron subtypes, and to relate synaptic currents to the firing properties of the cells. We found that phasic synaptic input differed between cell classes. Most strikingly, the dominant phasic input to pyramidal neurons was inhibitory, whereas phase-coupled perisomatic-targeting interneurons often received a strong phasic excitatory input. Differences in synaptic input could account for some of the differences in firing rate, action potential phase precision, and mean action potential phase angle, both between individual cells and between cell types. There was a strong positive correlation between the ratio of phasic synaptic excitation to inhibition and firing rate over all neurons and between the phase precision of excitation and action potentials in interneurons. Moreover, mean action potential phase angle correlated with the phase of the peak of the net-estimated synaptic reversal potential in all phase-coupled neurons. The data support a recurrent mechanism of gamma oscillations, whereby spike timing is controlled primarily by inhibition in pyramidal cells and by excitation in interneurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including the interactions of interneurons in modulating CA1 principal cells recruitment, the comparison between somatic and dendritic cells inhibitions, and the cholecystokinin-positive basket cell..