MINI REVIEW article
Front. Cell. Neurosci.
Sec. Cellular Neurophysiology
This article is part of the Research TopicMemory processing in health and disease: linking behavioral, circuits, and molecular scales.View all 8 articles
Parvalbumin interneurons: the dark and bright sides of a key playmaker of neural circuits and behavior
Provisionally accepted
- 1Aix-Marseille Universite, Marseille, France
- 2Universite de Geneve, Geneva, Switzerland
- 3INSERM U901 Institut de Neurobiologie de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France
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With their morphological and electrophysiological properties as well as exceptional connectivity, parvalbumin interneurons play a major role in the dynamics of the neural circuits of the hippocampus and cortex, along with associated cognitive functions. Their dysfunction, which is sometimes reversible, contributes to significant disruptions in network activity and behavioral deficits related to various diseases such as epilepsies or neuropsychiatric disorders. In this Mini Review, we present these parvalbumin interneurons, their characteristics, pathophysiological roles, and propose avenues for future investigations.
Keywords: Behavior, circuits, Cortex, Disease, Health, Hippocampus, Memory, parvalbumin interneurons
Received: 03 Nov 2025; Accepted: 04 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wirk, Quairiaux and Marissal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Thomas Marissal
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