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Hippocampal transcriptomic responses to enzyme‐mediated cellular dissociation

ABSTRACT: Single-neuron gene expression studies may be especially important for understanding nervous system structure and function because of the neuron-specific functionality and plasticity that defines functional neural circuits. Cellular dissociation is a prerequisite technical manipulation for single-cell and single cell-population studies, but the extent to which the cellular dissociation process affects neural gene expression has not been determined. This information is necessary for interpreting the results of experimental manipulations that affect neural function such as learning and memory. The goal of this research was to determine the impact of chemical cell dissociation on brain transcriptomes. We compared gene expression of microdissected samples from the dentate gyrus (DG), CA3, and CA1 subfields of the mouse hippocampus either prepared by a standard tissue homogenization protocol or subjected to a chemical cellular dissociation procedure. We report that compared to homogenization, chemical cellular dissociation alters about 350 genes or 2% of the hippocampal transcriptome. While only a few genes canonically implicated in long-term potentiation (LTP) and fear memory change expression levels in response to the dissociation procedure, these data indicate that sample preparation can affect gene expression profiles, which might confound interpretation of results depending on the research question. This study is important for the investigation of any complex tissues as research effort moves from subfield level analysis to single cell analysis of gene expression.

ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus

PROVIDER: GSE99765 | GEO | 2017/06/15

SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA389565

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:The use of single cell transcriptomics provides previously inaccessible insights into cellular heterogeneity and lineage dynamics of the mammary gland allowing for a better understanding of normal mammary gland function as well as breast cancer initiation and progression. Especially for human mammary gland research, limited tissue accessibility and restriction to ex vivo techniques reinforce the importance of reliable cross-study comparison of single-cell transcriptomic data. However, it is unclear to what extent differences in breast tissue dissociation influence composition and transcriptomic profiles of isolated cells. Here, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to compare human mammary cell populations isolated from a single mammoplasty patient by varying enzymatic dissociation protocols differing in duration (3 or 16 hours) and agitation speed (10 rpm or 100 rpm). Protocol A (3 hours, 100 rpm), protocol B (16 hours, 100 rpm) and protocol C (16 hours, 10 rpm) were used to extract cell fragments from tissue which were either frozen down directly or further dissociated into single cells prior to cryopreservation. Samples were then prepared together for 10x scRNA-sequencing, where the fragments were defrosted and freshly dissociated and were loaded together with the defrosted single cells. From each of the protocols we sequenced similar numbers of cells isolated from fragments (Protocol A: 3,586 cells, Protocol B: 2,809 cells and Protocol C: 4,796 cells), finding an average of 7,427 unique molecular identifiers and 2,445 genes detected per cell. Overall, we detected a greater abundance and heterogeneity of stromal cell types, such as fibroblasts and endothelial cells at a lower agitation speed. Moreover, an extended duration of tissue dissociation governed an overall cellular oxidative stress response together with a downregulation of breast cancer associated genes and a cell-type specific downregulation of lineage markers. Thus, our systematic analysis of dissociation-induced compositional and transcriptional bias in human breast tissue samples yields useful information to avoid misinterpretation of cellular heterogeneity and lineage composition.

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Hippocampal transcriptomic responses to enzyme‐mediated cellular dissociation

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