The innermost (or medial-most if unrolled) zone of the hippocampal formation is the dentate gyrus. The dentate is 3-layer allocortex, like the hippocampus proper, but the middle layer of the dentate has granule cells, whereas the middle layer of the hippocampus proper has pyramidal cells. The dense packing of its granule cells gives the dentate a very distinct look, especially in Nissl stained sections. Note that the dentate does not contribute fibers to the fornix (whereas the hippocampus and subiculum do). Instead the dentate projects only locally, to the immediately adjacent zones of the hippocampus proper (CA3/CA4).
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