Resolving Cellular and Molecular Diversity Along the Hippocampal Anterior-to-posterior Axis in Humans

Overview

Journal Neuron

Publisher Cell Press

Specialty Neurology

Date 2021 May 29

PMID 34051145

Citations 56

Authors

Fatma Ayhan

Ashwinikumar Kulkarni

Stefano Berto

Karthigayini Sivaprakasam

Connor Douglas

Bradley C Lega

Genevieve Konopka

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The hippocampus supports many facets of cognition, including learning, memory, and emotional processing. Anatomically, the hippocampus runs along a longitudinal axis, posterior to anterior in primates. The structure, function, and connectivity of the hippocampus vary along this axis. In human hippocampus, longitudinal functional heterogeneity remains an active area of investigation, and structural heterogeneity has not been described. To understand the cellular and molecular diversity along the hippocampal long axis in human brain and define molecular signatures corresponding to functional domains, we performed single-nuclei RNA sequencing on surgically resected human anterior and posterior hippocampus from epilepsy patients, identifying differentially expressed genes at cellular resolution. We further identify axis- and cell-type-specific gene expression signatures that differentially intersect with human genetic signals, identifying cell-type-specific genes in the posterior hippocampus for cognitive function and the anterior hippocampus for mood and affect. These data are accessible as a public resource through an interactive website.

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