Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Nov 4;8(11):e77928. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0077928. eCollection 2013.
Interneurons in the dorsal spinal cord process and relay innocuous and nociceptive somatosensory information from cutaneous receptors that sense touch, temperature and pain. These neurons display a well-defined organization with respect to their afferent innervation. Nociceptive afferents innervate lamina I and II, while cutaneous mechanosensory afferents primarily innervate sensory interneurons that are located in lamina III-IV. In this study, we outline a combinatorial transcription factor code that defines nine different inhibitory and excitatory interneuron populations in laminae III-IV of the postnatal cord. This transcription factor code reveals a high degree of molecular diversity in the neurons that make up laminae III-IV, and it lays the foundation for systematically analyzing and manipulating these different neuronal populations to assess their function. In addition, we find that many of the transcription factors that are expressed in the dorsal spinal cord at early postnatal times continue to be expressed in the adult, raising questions about their function in mature neurons and opening the door to their genetic manipulation in adult animals.
背根神经节中的中间神经元处理并传递来自皮肤感受器的无害和伤害性体感信息，这些感受器可以感知触觉、温度和疼痛。这些神经元在其传入神经支配方面表现出明确的组织。伤害性传入纤维支配 I 层和 II 层，而皮肤机械感觉传入纤维主要支配位于 III-IV 层的感觉中间神经元。在这项研究中，我们概述了一个组合转录因子代码，该代码定义了出生后脊髓 III-IV 层中的九个不同的抑制性和兴奋性中间神经元群体。该转录因子代码揭示了构成 III-IV 层的神经元在分子多样性方面具有高度的多样性，为系统地分析和操作这些不同的神经元群体以评估其功能奠定了基础。此外，我们发现许多在出生后早期背根神经节中表达的转录因子在成年后继续表达，这引发了关于它们在成熟神经元中的功能的问题，并为在成年动物中对其进行遗传操作打开了大门。
