Ume Eder Bat (A beautiful child) (popular song from Basque folklore) The
aim of this monograph is to introduce the postnatal development of
morphological features that are relevant to readers interested in the
neurobiology and pathology of the hippocampal formation in terms of the
complex phenomena that underlie the progressive anatomical and
functional maturation of this brain region. This review focuses on the
morphological aspects, while more detailed basic phenomena associated
with neuronal maturation-which are undoubtedly also of great
interest-are only marginally referred to, although a selection of
behavioral and clinical aspects will also be briefly addressed in an
attempt to illustrate real situations in different clinical specialties.
The creation of this monograph is justified by the increasing importance
and growing awareness shown in recent years of neurodevelopmental
disorders in children. This awareness is leading to increasing
refinement in clinical exami- tions of patients that may suffer from
different neurodevelopment-related diseases, such as autism, epilepsy,
memory disorders, etc. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the
first comprehensive description of the postnatal changes in the hip-
campal formation in its different constituent fields. Given the growing
sensitivity and accuracy of neuroradiological examinations, particularly
MRI, we also sought to offer a glimpse at the MRI aspects related to the
development of the hippocampal formation in the human infant.
