Morpho-electric diversity of human hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons

Although extensively studied in rodents, extremely little is known about human hippocampal pyramidal neurons, even though human hippocampus underwent strong evolutionary reorganization and shows lower theta rhythm frequencies. To test whether biophysical properties of human CA1 pyramidal neurons can explain observed rhythms, we map the morpho-electric properties of individual CA1 pyramidal neurons in human, non-pathological hippocampal slices from neurosurgery.

Human CA1 pyramidal neurons have much larger dendritic trees then mouse CA1 pyramidal neurons, have a large number of oblique dendrites and resonate at 2.9 Hz, optimally tuned to human theta frequencies. Morphological and biophysical properties suggest cellular diversity along a multidimensional gradient, rather than discrete clustering. Across the population, dendritic architecture and large number of oblique dendrites consistently boosts memory capacity in human CA1 pyramidal neurons by an order of magnitude compared to mouse CA1 pyramidal neurons.