Connectomic reconstruction from hippocampal CA3 reveals spatially graded mossy fiber inputs and selective feedforward inhibition to pyramidal cells

Abstract The mossy fiber (MF) connections to pyramidal cells in hippocampal CA3 are hypothesized to participate in pattern separation and memory encoding, yet no large-scale neuronal wiring diagram exists for these connections. We assembled a 3D electron microscopy volume (∼1×1×0.1mm3) from mouse hippocampal CA3. By proofreading and automated segmentation, we reconstructed and classified all soma-containing neurons—including 1,815 pyramidal cells and 229 inhibitory cells—and over 55,000 MFs. Pyramidal cells receive more numerous MF inputs along a proximodistal gradient. Some distal cells show surprisingly high convergence via relatively small terminals with fewer vesicles. Pyramidal cells share significantly more MF inputs than networks randomized by degree-preserving swap, and are better approximated by networks randomized by proximity-preserving swap. We identify a feedforward inhibitory circuit from MFs via perisomatic interneurons that selectively target a pyramidal subtype. We demonstrated large-scale mapping across levels in the hippocampus—from circuits to cell types to vesicles. The dataset is shared through Pyr, an online platform for hippocampal connectomics. Competing Interest Statement R.L. and H.S.S. have financial interests in Zetta AI, LLC. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.