Locomotor and Hippocampal Processing Converge in the Lateral Septum

The lateral septum (LS) has been implicated in anxiety and fear modulation and may regulate interactions between the hippocampus and regions, such as the VTA, that mediate goal-directed behavior. In this study, we simultaneously record from cells in the LS and the hippocampus during navigation and conditioning tasks. In the LS, we identify a speed and acceleration spiking code that does not map to states of anticipation or reward. Additionally, we identify an overlapping population of LS cells that change firing to cue and reward during conditioning. These cells display sharp wave ripple and theta modulation, spatial firing fields, and responses similar to the hippocampus during conditioning. These hippocampus-associated cells are not disproportionately speed or acceleration modulated, suggesting that these movement correlates are not hippocampally derived. Finally, we show that LS theta coordination is selectively enhanced in hippocampus-associated LS cells during navigation behavior that requires working memory. Taken together, these results suggest a role for the LS in transmitting spatial and contextual information, in concert with locomotor information, to downstream areas, such as the VTA, where value weighting may take place.