Sex Differences in DG, CA3 and CA1 Neuronal Activity When Viewing Natural Scenes and Natural Movies

Sex differences in the hippocampus are largely understudied in the context of visual perception, though differences exist in visual cortical areas of the brain as well as other functions of the hippocampus (e.g., spatial memory). Structure and function of the hippocampus are highly conserved between animals, so findings in mice may have implications for humans. Firing rate and synaptic activity in the dentate gyrus (DG), cornu Ammonis 1 (CA1), and cornu Ammonis 3 (CA3) regions of mice during perception of natural scenes (images) and natural movies were investigated for sex differences using the Allen Institute for Brain Science Visual Coding Neuropixel database. Significant differences were found in natural scene presentation. In particular, higher responses were seen in males in DG and CA1 and females in CA3. Similar patterns were present during natural movie presentations. Our findings indicate differences in hippocampal function between the sexes. Future studies may investigate the anatomy of neural processes in the DG, CA1, and CA3 that allow such differences to exist.

Abbreviations: CA1 – Cornu Ammonis 1; CA3 – Cornu Ammonis 3; DG – Dentate Gyrus

Keywords: Hippocampus; Visual Perception; Sex Differences; Dentate Gyrus.

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