中山大学Sheng Liu团队总结单细胞灵长类动物大脑图谱的多模态性质。这一研究成果于2024年1月9日发表在国际顶尖学术期刊《神经科学通报》上。

研究人员表示，灵长类动物的大脑结构复杂，能够增强认知功能。新皮层通过数十亿个连接的神经元来实现高级认知功能。这些神经元具有不同的转录组学、形态学和电生理学特性，其连接原理也各不相同。这些特点赋予了灵长类动物大脑图谱多模态的特性。

最近，下一代测序技术与改进的膜片钳技术相结合，正在彻底改变普查灵长类动物新皮层的方法，从而能够建立一个非常详细的多模式神经元图谱： (1）单细胞/单核RNA-seq技术建立了高通量转录组参考，涵盖了所有主要转录组细胞类型；（2）膜片钳-seq将形态学和电生理学特征与转录组参考联系起来；（3）多细胞膜片钳描述了局部连接的原理。

研究人员回顾了这些技术在灵长类动物新皮层中的应用，并讨论了在全面了解灵长类动物新皮层方面目前取得的进展和暂时存在的差距。

附：英文原文

Title: Multimodal Nature of the Single-cell Primate Brain Atlas: Morphology, Transcriptome, Electrophysiology, and Connectivity

Author: Shen, Yuhui, Shao, Mingting, Hao, Zhao-Zhe, Huang, Mengyao, Xu, Nana, Liu, Sheng

Issue&Volume: 2024-01-09

Abstract: Primates exhibit complex brain structures that augment cognitive function. The neocortex fulfills high-cognitive functions through billions of connected neurons. These neurons have distinct transcriptomic, morphological, and electrophysiological properties, and their connectivity principles vary. These features endow the primate brain atlas with a multimodal nature. The recent integration of next-generation sequencing with modified patch-clamp techniques is revolutionizing the way to census the primate neocortex, enabling a multimodal neuronal atlas to be established in great detail: (1) single-cell/single-nucleus RNA-seq technology establishes high-throughput transcriptomic references, covering all major transcriptomic cell types; (2) patch-seq links the morphological and electrophysiological features to the transcriptomic reference; (3) multicell patch-clamp delineates the principles of local connectivity. Here, we review the applications of these technologies in the primate neocortex and discuss the current advances and tentative gaps for a comprehensive understanding of the primate neocortex.

DOI: 10.1007/s12264-023-01160-4

Source: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12264-023-01160-4