Hippocampal firing fields anchored to a moving object predict homing direction during path-integration-based behavior

Homing based on path integration (H-PI) is a form of navigation in which
an animal uses self-motion cues to keep track of its position and return
to a starting point. Despite evidence for a role of the hippocampus in
homing behavior, the hippocampal spatial representations associated with
H-PI are largely unknown. Here we developed a homing task (AutoPI task)
that required a mouse to find a randomly placed lever on an arena before
returning to its home base. Recordings from the CA1 area in male mice
showed that hippocampal neurons remap between random foraging and AutoPI
task, between trials in light and dark conditions, and between search and
homing behavior. During the AutoPI task, approximately 25% of the firing
fields were anchored to the lever position. The activity of 24% of the
cells with a lever-anchored field predicted the homing direction of the
animal on each trial. Our results demonstrate that the activity of
hippocampal neurons with object-anchored firing fields can predict homing
behavior.