Firing rate suppression of the medial septum during spatial working memory maintenance without navigation
Abstract
The medial septum (MS) was shown to participate in working memory (WM) processes: MS lesions led to deficits in spatial WM performance, and hippocampal theta oscillations, known to depend on the MS, were linked to WM maintenance. However, what activity features of the MS may support working memory has not been explored. Therefore, we directly compared MS single neuron activity in mice performing a 2-alternative forced choice task with and without a WM component. Importantly, we minimized the locomotion component of the task to dissociate spatial navigation and WM processes. We found that the dominant response during stimulus processing and the subsequent delay period was a suppression of activity. WM engagement was characterized by stronger responsiveness of MS neurons compared to control, and especially a stronger firing rate suppression in the second half of the delay period. Moreover, we found fewer strongly theta-rhythmic neurons in the MS during WM performance, and these neurons were more suppressed during the delay period when WM was engaged. Based on these results, the MS may have an enabling rather than an active role in hippocampal WM processing.
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BibTeX
@article{aouadi2026firing,
title = {{Firing rate suppression of the medial septum during spatial working memory maintenance without navigation}},
author = {Malek Aouadi and Nicola Solari and Johanna Petra Szabó and Bálint Király and Balázs Hangya},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-68172-8},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-68172-8},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Firing rate suppression of the medial septum during spatial working memory maintenance without navigation
AU - Malek Aouadi
AU - Nicola Solari
AU - Johanna Petra Szabó
AU - Bálint Király
AU - Balázs Hangya
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/03
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-68172-8
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-68172-8
AB - The medial septum (MS) was shown to participate in working memory (WM) processes: MS lesions led to deficits in spatial WM performance, and hippocampal theta oscillations, known to depend on the MS, were linked to WM maintenance. However, what activity features of the MS may support working memory has not been explored. Therefore, we directly compared MS single neuron activity in mice performing a 2-alternative forced choice task with and without a WM component. Importantly, we minimized the locomotion component of the task to dissociate spatial navigation and WM processes. We found that the dominant response during stimulus processing and the subsequent delay period was a suppression of activity. WM engagement was characterized by stronger responsiveness of MS neurons compared to control, and especially a stronger firing rate suppression in the second half of the delay period. Moreover, we found fewer strongly theta-rhythmic neurons in the MS during WM performance, and these neurons were more suppressed during the delay period when WM was engaged. Based on these results, the MS may have an enabling rather than an active role in hippocampal WM processing.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -