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Updated: Jul 3, 2026
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An In-vitro Preparation of Isolated Enteric Neurons and Glia from the Myenteric Plexus of the Adult Mouse
Published on: August 7, 2013
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Meta-atlas of Juvenile and Adult Enteric Neuron scRNA-seq for Dataset Comparisons and Consensus on Transcriptomic
Joseph T Benthal1,2, Aaron A May-Zhang3, E Michelle Southard-Smith1
1Division of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, USA.
Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology
|November 22, 2024
Summary
Integrating single-cell RNA sequencing datasets reveals greater enteric nervous system (ENS) neuron diversity. This approach enhances the identification of rare neuron types and establishes transcriptomic definitions for neuronal subtypes.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Genomics
- Gastroenterology
Background:
- The enteric nervous system (ENS) is a complex neural network in the gastrointestinal tract, crucial for regulating gut functions.
- Traditional methods for cataloging ENS neuron types have limitations, leading to an incomplete understanding of their diversity.
- Advances in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) offer high-resolution transcriptional profiling of individual cells, revealing greater neuronal diversity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review and integrate existing mouse (Mus musculus) scRNA-seq datasets of the enteric nervous system.
- To identify novel enteric neuron types and shared marker genes across different developmental stages.
- To establish consensus transcriptomic definitions for enteric neuronal subtypes and understand dataset-specific variations.
Main Methods:
- Systematic review of published mouse scRNA-seq datasets for the enteric nervous system.
- Computational reprocessing and integration of selected independent scRNA-seq datasets.
- Analysis of integrated data to identify cell types, marker genes, and transcriptomic profiles.
Main Results:
- Data aggregation significantly increased the total number of analyzed cells, improving the resolution of rare neuron classes.
- Integration revealed a more comprehensive view of enteric neuron diversity and identified shared marker genes across ages.
- The study highlighted differences between datasets, likely due to variations in cell isolation and library generation methods.
Conclusions:
- Aggregating scRNA-seq data provides a consensus view of enteric neuron types, enhancing the characterization of rare subtypes.
- This meta-atlas deepens the understanding of ENS diversity and aids in defining neuronal alterations in disease states.
- Future research should focus on linking these detailed transcriptomic profiles to established ENS classification systems.
