Gasparini Silvia, Almeida-Pereira Gislaine, Munuzuri Ana Sofia Peraza, Resch Jon M, Geerling Joel C
Department of Neurology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
J Comp Neurol. 2024 Dec;532(12):e70004. doi: 10.1002/cne.70004.
The nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS) receives visceral information and regulates appetitive, digestive, and cardiorespiratory systems. Within the NTS, diverse processes operate in parallel to sustain life, but our understanding of their cellular composition is incomplete. Here, we integrate histologic and transcriptomic analysis to identify and compare molecular features that distinguish neurons in this brain region. Most glutamatergic neurons in the NTS and area postrema co-express the transcription factors Lmx1b and Phox2b, except for a ventral band of neurons in the far-caudal NTS, which include the Gcg-expressing neurons that produce glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). GABAergic interneurons intermingle through the Lmx1b+Phox2b macropopulation, and dense clusters of GABAergic neurons surround the NTS. The Lmx1b+Phox2b macropopulation includes subpopulations with distinct distributions expressing Grp, Hsd11b2, Npff, Pdyn, Pou3f1, Sctr, Th, and other markers. These findings highlight Lmx1b-Phox2b co-expression as a common feature of glutamatergic neurons in the NTS and improve our understanding of the organization and distribution of neurons in this critical brain region.
孤束核（NTS）接收内脏信息并调节食欲、消化系统和心肺系统。在NTS内，多种过程并行运作以维持生命，但我们对其细胞组成的了解并不完整。在这里，我们整合组织学和转录组分析，以识别和比较区分该脑区神经元的分子特征。NTS和最后区的大多数谷氨酸能神经元共表达转录因子Lmx1b和Phox2b，但远尾端NTS的腹侧神经元带除外，其中包括产生胰高血糖素样肽1（GLP-1）的表达Gcg的神经元。GABA能中间神经元通过Lmx1b+Phox2b大群体相互交织，并且GABA能神经元的密集簇围绕着NTS。Lmx1b+Phox2b大群体包括具有不同分布的亚群，这些亚群表达Grp、Hsd11b2、Npff、Pdyn、Pou3f1、Sctr、Th和其他标志物。这些发现突出了Lmx1b-Phox2b共表达作为NTS中谷氨酸能神经元的一个共同特征，并增进了我们对这个关键脑区神经元组织和分布的理解。
