Project description:Satellite glia are the major glial type found in ganglia of the peripheral nervous system that wrap around cell bodies of sympathetic and sensory neurons that are very diverse. Other than their close physical association with peripheral neurons, little is known about this glial population. Here, we performed single cell RNA sequencing analysis and identified five different populations of satellite glia from sympathetic and sensory ganglia. We identify three shared populations of satellite glia enriched in immune-response genes, immediate-early genes and ion channels/ECM-interactors, respectively. Sensory- and sympathetic-specific satellite glia are differentially enriched for modulators of lipid metabolism. Sensory glia are also specifically enriched for genes involved in glutamate turnover. Further, satellite glia and Schwann cells can be distinguished by unique transcriptional signatures. This study reveals remarkable heterogeneity of satellite glia in the peripheral nervous system.
Project description:Transcriptom analysis of stellate sympathetic ganglia after 8 weeks of cardiac pressure overload caused by transverse aortic constriction. Comparative transcriptome analysis was determined using the GeneChip Mouse Genome 430 2.0 Array (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA, USA). Six microarrays from stellate sympathetic ganglia of mice were performed 8 weeks after transverse aortic constriction or sham operation.
Project description:Transcriptom analysis of stellate sympathetic ganglia after 8 weeks of cardiac pressure overload caused by transverse aortic constriction.
Project description:The goal of this study was to analyze global gene expression in specific populations of nociceptor sensory neurons, the neurons that detect damaging/noxious stimuli. The dorsal root ganglia (DRG), trigeminal ganglia, and nodose ganglia are anatomically distinct peripheral sensory ganglia that contain nociceptors which innervate skin, gut, lungs, and other distinct organ tissues. We used flow cytometry to purify nociceptors from these ganglia and profiled their global gene expression signatures to compare gene expression between these different anatomically distinct nociceptors. Nav1.8-Cre were bred with Rosa26-TdTomato to generate Nav1.8-Cre/R26-TdTomato reporter progeny, where all peripheral nociceptor neurons are genetically marked with red fluroescence due to specific expression of the TTX- resistant sodium channel Nav1.8. Lumbar region dorsal root ganglia (DRG), trigeminal ganglia, and nodose ganglia were dissected from mice (3 mice were pooled/sample). Highly red fluorescent neurons were Facs purified, RNA extracted, and processed for microarray analysis.
Project description:The goal of this study was to analyze global gene expression in specific populations of nociceptor sensory neurons, the neurons that detect damaging/noxious stimuli. The dorsal root ganglia (DRG), trigeminal ganglia, and nodose ganglia are anatomically distinct peripheral sensory ganglia that contain nociceptors which innervate skin, gut, lungs, and other distinct organ tissues. We used flow cytometry to purify nociceptors from these ganglia and profiled their global gene expression signatures to compare gene expression between these different anatomically distinct nociceptors.
Project description:The cardiac autonomic nervous system is crucial in controlling cardiac function, such as heart rate and cardiac contractility, and is divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. Normally, there is a balance between these two branches to maintain homeostasis. However, cardiac disease states such as myocardial infarction, heart failure, and hypertension can induce the remodeling of cells involved in cardiac innervation, which is associated with an adverse clinical outcome. Although there are vast amounts of data for the histological structure and function of the cardiac autonomic nervous system, its molecular biological architecture in health and disease is still enigmatic in many aspects. Novel technologies such as single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) hold promise for the genetic characterization of tissues at single-cell resolution. However, the relatively large size of neurons may impede the standardized use of these techniques. Here, this protocol exploits droplet-based single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq), a method to characterize the biological architecture of cardiac sympathetic neurons in health and disease. A stepwise approach is demonstrated to perform snRNA-seq of the bilateral superior cervical (SCG) and stellate ganglia (StG) dissected from adult mice. This method enables long-term sample preservation, maintaining an adequate RNA quality when samples from multiple individuals/experiments cannot be collected all at once within a short period of time. Barcoding the nuclei with hashtag oligos (HTOs) enables demultiplexing and the trace-back of distinct ganglionic samples post sequencing. Subsequent analyses revealed successful nuclei capture of neuronal, satellite glial, and endothelial cells of the sympathetic ganglia, as validated by snRNA-seq. In summary, this protocol provides a stepwise approach for snRNA-seq of sympathetic extrinsic cardiac ganglia, a method that has the potential for broader application in studies of the innervation of other organs and tissues.
Project description:he neural crest is an embryonic stem cell population unique to vertebrates whose expansion and diversification are thought to have promoted vertebrate evolution by enabling emergence of novel cell types and structures like jaws and peripheral ganglia2. While basal vertebrates have sensory ganglia, convention has it that trunk sympathetic chain ganglia arose only in jawed vertebrates. In contrast, here we report the presence of trunk sympathetic neurons in the sea lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, an extant jawless vertebrate. These neurons arise from sympathoblasts near the dorsal aorta that undergo noradrenergic specification via a transcriptional program homologous to that described in gnathostomes. Lamprey sympathoblasts populate the extracardiac space and extend along the length of the trunk in bilateral streams, expressing the catecholamine biosynthetic pathway enzymes tyrosine hydroxylase and dopamine -hydroxylase. CM-DiI lineage tracing analysis further confirmed that these cells derive from the trunk neural crest. RNA-seq of isolated ammocete trunk sympathoblasts revealed gene profiles characteristic of sympathetic neuron function. Our findings challenge prevailing dogma which posits that sympathetic ganglia are a gnathostome innovation, instead suggesting that a late-developing rudimentary sympathetic nervous system may have been characteristic of the earliest vertebrates.
Project description:Vagal afferent neurons are thought to convey primarily physiological information, whereas spinal afferents transmit noxious signals from the viscera to the central nervous system. In order to elucidate molecular identities for these different properties, we compared gene expression profiles of neurons located in nodose ganglia (NG) and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) in mice. Intraperitoneal administration of Alexa Fluor-488 conjugated Cholera toxin B allowed identification of neurons projecting to the viscera. Fluorescent neurons in DRG (from T10 to T13) and NG were isolated using laser capture microdissection. Gene expression profiles of visceral afferent neurons, obtained by microarray hybridization, were analysed using multivariate spectral map analysis, SAM algorithm (Significance Analysis of Microarray data) and fold-difference filtering. A total of 1996 genes were found to be differentially expressed in DRG versus NG, including 41 G-protein coupled receptors and 60 ion channels. Expression profiles obtained on laser-captured neurons were contrasted to those obtained on whole ganglia demonstrating striking differences and the need for microdissection when studying visceral sensory neurons because of dilution of the signal by somatic sensory neurons. Furthermore, a detailed catalogue of all adrenergic and cholinergic, GABA, glutamate, serotonin and dopamine receptors, voltage-gated potassium, sodium and calcium channels and transient receptor potential cation channels present in visceral afferents is provided. Our genome-wide expression profiling data provide novel insight into molecular signatures that underlie both functional differences and similarities between NG and DRG visceral sensory neurons. Moreover, these findings will offer novel insight into mode of action of pharmacologic agents modulating visceral sensation. Experiment Overall Design: Three separate experiments were performed. First, 5 whole dorsal root ganglia were compared to 7 whole nodose ganglia. Second, Laser captured visceral neurons derived from 5 dorsal root ganglia and 5 nodose ganglia were compared on MG-U74Av2. Third, Laser captured visceral neurons derived from 9 dorsal root ganglia and 11 nodose ganglia were compared on Mouse430_2.