The deep layers of the entorhinal cortex are important for spatial cognition, as well as memory storage, consolidation and retrieval. A long-standing hypothesis is that deep-layer neurons relay spatial and memory-related signals between the hippocampus and telencephalon. We review the implications of recent circuit-level analyses that suggest more complex roles. The organization of deep entorhinal layers is consistent with multi-stage processing by specialized cell populations; in this framework, hippocampal, neocortical, and subcortical inputs are integrated to generate representations for use by targets in the telencephalon and for feedback to the superficial entorhinal cortex and hippocampus. Addressing individual sublayers of the deep entorhinal cortex in future experiments and models will be important for establishing systems-level mechanisms for spatial cognition and episodic memory.

内嗅皮层的深层对于空间认知以及记忆存储、巩固和检索都很重要。一个长期存在的假设是，深层神经元在海马体和端脑之间传递空间和记忆相关信号。我们回顾了最近的电路级分析的含义，这些分析表明了更复杂的角色。深层内嗅层的组织与特殊细胞群的多阶段处理一致；在这个框架中，海马、新皮层和皮层下的输入被整合在一起，以生成供端脑中的目标使用的表示，并用于反馈给浅表内嗅皮层和海马。