Distinct physiological and developmental properties of hippocampal CA2 subfield revealed by using anti-Purkinje cell protein 4 (PCP4) immunostaining

The hippocampal CA2 subfield was initially identified by Lorente de No as an anatomically distinct region based on its cytoarchitectural features. Although there is an enormous body of literature on other hippocampal subfields (CA1 and CA3), relatively little is known about the physiological and developmental properties of CA2. Here we report identification of the CA2 region in the mouse by immunostaining with a Purkinje cell protein 4 (PCP4) antibody, which effectively delineates CA3/CA2 and CA2/CA1 borders and agrees well with previous cytoarchitectural definitions of CA2. The PCP4 immunostaining-delineated CA2 neurons have distinguishable differences in cell morphology, physiology, and synaptic circuit connections compared with distal CA3 and proximal CA1 regions. The average somatic sizes of excitatory cells differ across CA1-3, with the smallest to largest somatic size being CA1