Single-Cell RNA-Seq Reveals Hypothalamic Cell Diversity

Overview

Journal Cell Rep

Publisher Cell Press

Specialties Biology
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2017 Mar 30

PMID 28355573

Citations 279

Authors

Renchao Chen

Xiaoji Wu

Lan Jiang

Yi Zhang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The hypothalamus is one of the most complex brain structures involved in homeostatic regulation. Defining cell composition and identifying cell-type-specific transcriptional features of the hypothalamus is essential for understanding its functions and related disorders. Here, we report single-cell RNA sequencing results of adult mouse hypothalamus, which defines 11 non-neuronal and 34 neuronal cell clusters with distinct transcriptional signatures. Analyses of cell-type-specific transcriptomes reveal gene expression dynamics underlying oligodendrocyte differentiation and tanycyte subtypes. Additionally, data analysis provides a comprehensive view of neuropeptide expression across hypothalamic neuronal subtypes and uncover Crabp1 and Pax6 neuronal populations in specific hypothalamic sub-regions. Furthermore, we found food deprivation exhibited differential transcriptional effects among the different neuronal subtypes, suggesting functional specification of various neuronal subtypes. Thus, the work provides a comprehensive transcriptional perspective of adult hypothalamus, which serves as a valuable resource for dissecting cell-type-specific functions of this complex brain region.

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