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10 sources retrieved · Most recent: April 2026 · Index updated 14 days ago
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CA3
carbonic anhydrase 3
Chromosome 8 · 8q21.2
NCBI Gene: 761Ensembl: ENSG00000164879.8HGNC: HGNC:1374UniProt: P07451
56PubMed Papers
20Diseases
2Drugs
0Pathogenic Variants
CLINICAL
FDA Approved Target
DATA QUALITY
✓ Experimental GO Evidence✓ Swiss-Prot Reviewed
cytosolcarbonate dehydratase activityprotein bindingcytoplasmepilepsyduodenal ulcerneurodegenerative diseasemyocardial infarction
✦AI Summary

CA3 (carbonic anhydrase 3) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the reversible hydration of carbon dioxide. While the provided abstracts do not directly address CA3 protein function, they establish the neuroanatomical and functional significance of the hippocampal CA3 region—a distinct anatomical subfield of the hippocampus proper 1. The CA3 hippocampal region plays a critical role in memory formation and retrieval. Enhanced structural connectivity between CA3 engram cells and CA1 engram cells encodes memory strength in contextual fear conditioning 2. Human hippocampal CA3 exhibits unique circuit properties including sparse connectivity and high synaptic reliability that maximize associative memory storage capacity 3. Notably, CA3 damage in humans disrupts both recent and remote episodic memories through impaired functional integration across medial temporal lobe networks 4. The CA3 subfield also demonstrates distinct familiarity-related facilitation signals during recognition memory tasks 5. Additionally, viral infection can compromise CA3 function through complement-mediated synaptic terminal loss, contributing to post-infectious cognitive impairment 6. These data establish CA3 as essential for hippocampal-dependent memory processes, though direct information about CA3 protein enzyme function and its role in these processes is not provided by the available abstracts.

Sources cited
1
CA3 is one of three major subfields of the hippocampus proper within the hippocampal formation
PMID: 24777126
2
Enhanced connectivity between CA3 engram cells and CA1 engram cells encodes memory strength in contextual fear conditioning
PMID: 29700265
3
Human hippocampal CA3 displays sparse connectivity and unique synaptic properties that enhance memory storage capacity
PMID: 39667938
4
CA3 damage disrupts both recent and remote episodic memories through loss of functional integration in default network regions
PMID: 31976861
5
DG/CA3 demonstrates familiarity-related facilitation signals predictive of recognition memory performance
PMID: 25274810
6
Viral infection causes complement-mediated loss of CA3 presynaptic terminals contributing to memory impairment
PMID: 27337340
Disease Associationsⓘ20
epilepsyOpen Targets
0.44Moderate
duodenal ulcerOpen Targets
0.37Weak
neurodegenerative diseaseOpen Targets
0.24Weak
myocardial infarctionOpen Targets
0.08Suggestive
nail-patella syndromeOpen Targets
0.08Suggestive
obstructive sleep apneaOpen Targets
0.07Suggestive
Myasthenia gravisOpen Targets
0.05Suggestive
ulcerative colitisOpen Targets
0.05Suggestive
colon carcinomaOpen Targets
0.04Suggestive
central nervous system cancerOpen Targets
0.03Suggestive
adrenal cortex carcinomaOpen Targets
0.03Suggestive
rheumatoid arthritisOpen Targets
0.03Suggestive
systemic lupus erythematosusOpen Targets
0.03Suggestive
cancerOpen Targets
0.03Suggestive
oral squamous cell carcinomaOpen Targets
0.03Suggestive
microscopic polyangiitisOpen Targets
0.02Suggestive
acute myocardial infarctionOpen Targets
0.02Suggestive
Duchenne muscular dystrophyOpen Targets
0.02Suggestive
obesityOpen Targets
0.02Suggestive
gliomaOpen Targets
0.02Suggestive
Pathogenic Variants
No pathogenic variants reported on ClinVar for this gene.
View on ClinVar ↗
Drug Targets2
ETHOXZOLAMIDEApproved
Carbonic anhydrase inhibitor
SULTHIAMEApproved
Carbonic anhydrase inhibitor
epilepsy
Related Genes
CA1Protein interaction79%CYP24A1Protein interaction79%CA4Protein interaction77%SLC2A5Protein interaction76%CBSShared pathway17%TATShared pathway16%
Tissue Expression6 tissues
Lung
100%
Heart
36%
Bone Marrow
25%
Liver
10%
Ovary
5%
Brain
2%
Gene Interaction Network
Click a node to explore
CA3CA1CYP24A1CA4SLC2A5CBSTAT
PROTEIN STRUCTURE
Preparing viewer…
PDB3UYQ · 1.70 Å · X-ray
View on RCSB ↗
Constraintⓘ
LOEUFⓘ
1.22LoF Tolerant
pLIⓘ
0.00Tolerant
Observed/Expected LoF0.81 [0.55–1.22]
RankingsWhere CA3 stands among ~20K protein-coding genes
  • #8,043of 20,598
    Most Researched56
  • #658of 1,025
    FDA-Approved Drug Targets2
  • #12,781of 17,882
    Most Constrained (LOEUF)1.22
Genes detectedCA3
Sources retrieved10 papers
Response time—
📄 Sources
10▼
1
Anatomy of the hippocampal formation.
PMID: 24777126
Front Neurol Neurosci · 2014
1.00
2
Interregional synaptic maps among engram cells underlie memory formation.
PMID: 29700265
Science · 2018
0.90
3
Human hippocampal CA3 uses specific functional connectivity rules for efficient associative memory.
PMID: 39667938
Cell · 2025
0.80
4
A complement-microglial axis drives synapse loss during virus-induced memory impairment.
PMID: 27337340
Nature · 2016
0.70
5
Gamifying anatomy education.
PMID: 30168609
Clin Anat · 2018
0.60