Intrinsic and extrinsic wiring of CA3: Indications for connectional heterogeneity

Abstract

Within the framework of a special issue on CA3, it was deemed relevant to summarize what is known about the extrinsic and intrinsic wiring of CA3 as a basis for other contributions. Here, I have aimed to update already existing excellent reviews on the subject and to raise the issue whether or not the known architecture of the field supports the generally accepted notion that CA3 is particularly wired to function as an autoassociative network. The data reviewed strongly support this notion but in addition point to connectional heterogeneities that may point to functional specializations in CA3, on top of its role as an autoassociative network uniquely relevant to efficient encoding and recall of information.