近日，美国德克萨斯大学教授Genevieve Konopka及其团队探明了刺激调节人类大脑中与基因相关的细胞组合。这一研究成果于2026年8月5日发表在国际顶尖学术期刊《自然》上。

为了直接研究人脑刺激引发的神经调节机制，该团队开发了一个离体平台，将微电极阵列刺激与同时记录和单核基因组学结合起来，这些数据来自于接受神经外科手术的患者切除的颞叶皮层。课题组研究人员发现刺激增强了细胞集合，然后将这种效应与细胞类型特异性基因调控网络联系起来。通过在体内刺激后鉴定人类皮层中常见的细胞类型特异性基因表达特征，小组进一步证明了这些发现的普遍性。总之，他们的结果为识别与生理相关的可靶向遗传特征奠定了基础，这些特征可能通过神经调节策略用于治疗益处。

据介绍，通过刺激重塑皮层回路代表了一种恢复认知功能的新疗法，然而其作用背后的生物学机制在人类中仍未被探索。

附：英文原文

Title: Stimulation modulates gene-linked cell assemblies in the human brain

Author: Moore, Haley, Dehnad, Mantre, Freelin, Anne, Granger, Bryan, Subramanian, Suganya, van der Molen, Tjitse, Kulkarni, Ashwinikumar, Berto, Stefano, Lega, Bradley C., Konopka, Genevieve

Issue&Volume: 2026-08-05

Abstract: Reshaping cortical circuits through stimulation represents an emerging therapy for the restoration of cognitive function1,2,3,4,5, yet the biological mechanisms that underlie its effects remain largely unexplored in humans. Here, to directly investigate the mechanisms of neuromodulation elicited by human brain stimulation, we developed an ex vivo platform that integrates microelectrode array stimulation with simultaneous recording and single-nucleus genomics from resected temporal cortex obtained from patients undergoing neurosurgery. We found that stimulation strengthens cell assemblies and then linked this effect to cell-type-specific gene regulatory networks. We further demonstrated the generalizability of these findings by identifying common cell-type-specific gene expression signatures in the human cortex following in vivo stimulation. Together, our results establish a foundation for identifying targetable genetic signatures linked with physiology that may be harnessed for therapeutic benefit via neuromodulation strategies.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10879-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10879-9