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A transcriptomic atlas of mouse cerebellar cortex reveals novel cell types

ABSTRACT: The cerebellar cortex is a well-studied brain structure with diverse roles in motor learning, coordination, cognition, and autonomic regulation. Nonetheless, a complete inventory of cerebellar cell types is presently lacking. We used high-throughput transcriptional profiling to profile more than 600,000 nuclei and molecularly define cell types across individual lobules of the adult mouse cerebellum. Purkinje neurons showed considerable regional specialization, with the greatest diversity occurring in the posterior lobules. For multiple types of cerebellar interneurons, the molecular variation within each type was more continuous, rather than discrete. For the unipolar brush cells (UBCs)—an interneuron population previously subdivided into discrete populations—the continuous variation in gene expression was associated with a graded continuum of electrophysiological properties. Most surprisingly, we found that molecular layer interneurons (MLIs) were composed of two molecularly and functionally distinct types. Both show a continuum of morphological variation through the thickness of the molecular layer, but electrophysiological recordings revealed marked differences between the two types in spontaneous firing, excitability, and electrical coupling. Together, these findings provide the first comprehensive cellular atlas of the cerebellar cortex, and outline a methodological and conceptual framework for the integration of molecular, morphological, and physiological ontologies for defining brain cell types.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus Homo sapiens

PROVIDER: GSE165371 | GEO | 2021/01/22

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Fast-spiking (FS) interneurons are important elements of neocortical circuitry that constitute the primary source of synaptic inhibition in adult cortex and impart temporal organization on ongoing cortical activity. The highly specialized intrinsic membrane and firing properties that allow cortical FS interneurons to perform these functions are attributable to equally specialized gene expression, which is ultimately coordinated by cell-type-specific transcriptional regulation. Although embryonic transcriptional events govern the initial steps of cell-type specification in most cortical interneurons, including FS cells, the electrophysiological properties that distinguish adult cortical cell types emerge relatively late in postnatal development, and the transcriptional events that drive this maturational process are not known. To address this, we used mouse whole-genome microarrays and whole-cell patch clamp to characterize the transcriptional and electrophysiological maturation of cortical FS interneurons between postnatal day 7 (P7) and P40. We found that the intrinsic and synaptic physiology of FS cells undergoes profound regulation over the first 4 postnatal weeks and that these changes are correlated with primarily monotonic but bidirectional transcriptional regulation of thousands of genes belonging to multiple functional classes. Using our microarray screen as a guide, we discovered that upregulation of two-pore K leak channels between P10 and P25 contributes to one of the major differences between the intrinsic membrane properties of immature and adult FS cells and found a number of other candidate genes that likely confer cell-type specificity on mature FS cells. Experiment Overall Design: We characterized the transcriptional maturation of genetically labeled FS interneurons in mouse S1 cortex using whole-genome microarrays.mRNA was harvested from manually sorted GFPexpressing neurons dissociated from acutely prepared brain slices at a range of developmental time points (P7, P10, P15, P25, and P40) and subsequently reverse transcribed, amplified, labeled, and hybridized to Affymetrix 430 2.0 whole-genome microarrays (three microarrays from three different animals per condition). We used the G42 transgenic mice described by Chattopadhyaya et al. (2004) for all experiments.

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A transcriptomic atlas of mouse cerebellar cortex reveals novel cell types

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