# Cortico-hippocampal mechanisms of context memory

> **NIH NIH R01** · ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $288,596

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Episodic memories, particularly those associated with stressful experiences, often persist throughout a lifetime.
While extensive research has helped us to better understand the hippocampal mechanisms mediating the
formation of episodic memories, the role of the cortex is less well understood. Our project seeks to establish
the contribution of the retrosplenial cortex (RSC), and its interactions with the dorsal hippocampus (DH), to the
encoding, consolidation, and retrieval of contextual fear-provoking memories. We propose that RSC, by
integrating dorsohippocampal (DH) inputs, plays a principal role in the processing of contextual memories from
the earliest stages of memory encoding to remote retrieval, but that RSC, rather than DH, is the gateway of
information to other parts of the neocortex. We also posit that three distinct DH-RSC projections contribute to
the formation, recent, and remote retrieval of context memories, whereas layer 5 RSC neurons contribute to
long-term memory consolidation. Our approaches will consist of conditional genetic and chemogenetic
manipulations of individual RSC neuronal populations as well as DH-RSC projections. This will be
complemented by optogenetic-electrophysiological approaches of the functional neuroanatomy of DH-RSC
projections and RSC layer-specific analyses of immediate early gene responses related to memory.
Understanding the molecular and circuit mechanisms of RSC function as they relate to memory will inform the
development of novel treatment approaches for cognitive deficits in patients suffering from neurological and
psychiatric disorders. Ideally, our findings will identify cortical pathways whose stimulation can bypass the
requirement for the hippocampus in memory formation and can thus serve as a novel treatment option.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10249691
- **Project number:** 7R01MH108837-06
- **Recipient organization:** ALBERT EINSTEIN COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Vladimir Jovasevic
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $288,596
- **Award type:** 7
- **Project period:** 2016-07-01 → 2021-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10249691

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10249691, Cortico-hippocampal mechanisms of context memory (7R01MH108837-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10249691. Licensed CC0.

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