Molecular taxonomy of major neuronal classes in the adult mouse forebrain

Abstract

Identifying the neuronal cell types that comprise the mammalian forebrain is a central unsolved problem in neuroscience. Global gene expression profiles offer a potentially unbiased way to assess functional relationships between neurons. Here, we carried out microarray analysis of 12 populations of neurons in the adult mouse forebrain. Five of these populations were chosen from cingulate cortex and included several subtypes of GABAergic interneurons and pyramidal neurons. The remaining seven were derived from the somatosensory cortex, hippocampus, amygdala and thalamus. Using these expression profiles, we were able to construct a taxonomic tree that reflected the expected major relationships between these populations, such as the distinction between cortical interneurons and projection neurons. The taxonomic tree indicated highly heterogeneous gene expression even within a single region. This dataset should be useful for the classification of unknown neuronal subtypes, the investigation of specifically expressed genes and the genetic manipulation of specific neuronal circuit elements.

Differential gene expression profiling of large and small retinal ganglion cells

“…A similar approach has been also successfully utilized for the analysis of distinct subtypes of brain neurons (Fischer et al 2004;Yao et. al., 2005;Sugino et al 2006) and astrocytes (Cahoy et. al., 2008).…”

Amyloid-β and tau synergistically impair the oxidative phosphorylation system in triple transgenic Alzheimer's disease mice

“…We performed an overrepresentation analysis using the Gene Ontology (GO) database to perform a functional characterization of the deregulated proteins and established a GO map as described in ref. 12. This revealed that one-third of the proteins have functions in mitochondria, specifically complex I and IV (Table 1).…”

Inhibition of Ca2+-activated large-conductance K+ channel activity alters synaptic AMPA receptor phenotype in mouse cerebellar stellate cells

“…Like BK channels, activation of Kv3 channels can shorten AP duration. Intriguingly, a study that examined the gene expression profile of populations of CNS neurons revealed an inverse relationship between the levels of GluR2 mRNA and that of Kv3.1 with many GABAergic interneurons expressing high levels of Kv3 and low levels of GluR2 (Sugino et al 2006). In this study, we show that blockade of BK channels can increase the expression of GluR2-containing receptors in GABAergic interneurons in the cerebellum.…”

“…Several types of GABAergic interneurons are known to express high levels of potassium channels, including Kv3 and large-conductance Ca 2ϩ -activated potassium (BK) channels (Bartos et al 2007;Perney et al 1992;Rudy and McBain 2001;Sugino et al 2006). These channels display a characteristic high activation threshold and generate noninactivating currents, which accelerate the repolarization of APs.…”