小柯机器人

美国波士顿儿童医院Yi Zhang和Jeffrey R. Moffitt研究组合作在研究中取得进展。他们利用空间转录组学发现小鼠前额叶皮层（PFC）的独特组织结构以及调控慢性疼痛的神经元亚型。该研究于2023年10月16日发表于国际学术期刊《自然-神经科学》杂志。

为了探究这些不同功能的细胞和电路结构，研究人员对成年小鼠前额叶皮层进行了空间分辨单细胞转录组分析。结果表明，相对于邻近的皮质区域，PFC具有独特的细胞组成和基因表达模式-兴奋性神经元调节基因的表达各不相同。这些细胞和分子特征在PFC亚区内进一步分离，暗示了PFC若干功能的亚区特异性。PFC通过神经元亚型的组合投射到皮层下的主要靶标，这些亚型以靶标内在的方式出现。

最后，基于这些特征，研究人员确定了PFC中与慢性疼痛有关的不同细胞类型和回路，在医学领域慢性疼痛具有一定的挑战性，但对其分子机制的了解却很有限。总之，该研究揭示的信息将有助于解码健康和疾病中特定PFC功能背后的离散分子、细胞和回路机制。

据介绍，前额叶皮层是一个复杂的脑区，它调控认知、情感、执行动作甚至疼痛处理等多种过程。

附：英文原文

Title: Spatial transcriptomics reveals the distinct organization of mouse prefrontal cortex and neuronal subtypes regulating chronic pain

Author: Bhattacherjee, Aritra, Zhang, Chao, Watson, Brianna R., Djekidel, Mohamed Nadhir, Moffitt, Jeffrey R., Zhang, Yi

Issue&Volume: 2023-10-16

Abstract: The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a complex brain region that regulates diverse functions ranging from cognition, emotion and executive action to even pain processing. To decode the cellular and circuit organization of such diverse functions, we employed spatially resolved single-cell transcriptome profiling of the adult mouse PFC. Results revealed that PFC has distinct cell-type composition and gene-expression patterns relative to neighboring cortical areas—with neuronal excitability-regulating genes differently expressed. These cellular and molecular features are further segregated within PFC subregions, alluding to the subregion-specificity of several PFC functions. PFC projects to major subcortical targets through combinations of neuronal subtypes, which emerge in a target-intrinsic fashion. Finally, based on these features, we identified distinct cell types and circuits in PFC underlying chronic pain, an escalating healthcare challenge with limited molecular understanding. Collectively, this comprehensive map will facilitate decoding of discrete molecular, cellular and circuit mechanisms underlying specific PFC functions in health and disease.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01455-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01455-9

Nature Neuroscience：《自然—神经科学》，创刊于1998年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：28.771
官方网址：https://www.nature.com/neuro/
投稿链接：https://mts-nn.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex