The Cellular and Molecular Basis of Somatosensory Neuron Development

Overview

Journal Neuron

Publisher Cell Press

Specialty Neurology

Date 2021 Sep 30

PMID 34592169

Citations 36

Authors

Shan Meltzer

Celine Santiago

Nikhil Sharma

David D Ginty

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Primary somatosensory neurons convey salient information about our external environment and internal state to the CNS, allowing us to detect, perceive, and react to a wide range of innocuous and noxious stimuli. Pseudo-unipolar in shape, and among the largest (longest) cells of most mammals, dorsal root ganglia (DRG) somatosensory neurons have peripheral axons that extend into skin, muscle, viscera, or bone and central axons that innervate the spinal cord and brainstem, where they synaptically engage the central somatosensory circuitry. Here, we review the diversity of mammalian DRG neuron subtypes and the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms that control their development. We describe classical and contemporary advances that frame our understanding of DRG neurogenesis, transcriptional specification of DRG neurons, and the establishment of morphological, physiological, and synaptic diversification across somatosensory neuron subtypes.

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