单核转录组图谱揭示了衰老树鼩中阿尔茨海默病样病理的细胞和遗传特征。
A Single-Nucleus Transcriptomic Atlas Reveals Cellular and Genetic Characteristics of Alzheimer's-Like Pathology in Aging Tree Shrews.
作者信息
Xiong Liu-Lin, He Rong, Du Ruo-Lan, Niu Rui-Ze, Xue Lu-Lu, Chen Li, Huangfu Li-Ren, Xiao Qiu-Xia, Li Jing, Li Yong-Ping, Zhang Si-Min, Yu Chang-Yin, Tian Xiao-He, Wang Ting-Hua
机构信息
Department of Anesthesiology The First People's Hospital of Zunyi (The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University) Zunyi Guizhou China.
Institute of Neuroscience Kunming Medical University Kunming Yunnan China.
出版信息
MedComm (2020). 2025 Mar 15;6(4):e70114. doi: 10.1002/mco2.70114. eCollection 2025 Apr.
The lack of natural aging-inducing Alzheimer's disease (AD) model presents a significant gap in the current preclinical research. Here, we identified a unique cohort of 10 naturally aging tree shrews (TSs) displaying distinct Alzheimer's-like pathology (ALP) from a population of 324, thereby establishing a novel model that closely mirrors human AD progression. Using single-nucleus RNA sequencing, we generated a comprehensive transcriptome atlas, revealing the cellular diversity and gene expression changes underlying AD pathology in aged TSs. Particularly, distinct differentiation trajectories of neural progenitor cells were highly associated with AD pathology. Intriguingly, cross-species comparisons among humans, TSs, monkeys, and mice highlighted a greater cellular homogeneity of TSs to primates and humans than to mice. Our extended cross-species analysis by including a direct comparison between human and TS hippocampal tissue under AD conditions uncovered conserved cell types, enriched synaptic biological processes, and elevated excitatory/inhibitory imbalance across species. Cell-cell communication analysis unveiled parallel patterns between AD human and ALP TSs, with both showing reduced interaction strength and quantity across most cell types. Overall, our study provides rich, high-resolution resources on the cellular and molecular landscape of the ALP TS hippocampus, reinforcing the utility of TSs as a robust model for AD research.
缺乏自然衰老诱导的阿尔茨海默病(AD)模型是当前临床前研究中的一个重大空白。在此,我们从324只树鼩群体中鉴定出10只表现出明显阿尔茨海默病样病理(ALP)的独特自然衰老树鼩队列,从而建立了一个紧密反映人类AD进展的新模型。通过单核RNA测序,我们生成了一个全面的转录组图谱,揭示了老年树鼩中AD病理背后的细胞多样性和基因表达变化。特别是,神经祖细胞的不同分化轨迹与AD病理高度相关。有趣的是,人类、树鼩、猴子和小鼠之间的跨物种比较突出了树鼩与灵长类动物和人类的细胞同质性高于与小鼠的同质性。我们通过在AD条件下对人类和树鼩海马组织进行直接比较的扩展跨物种分析发现了保守的细胞类型、丰富的突触生物学过程以及跨物种兴奋性/抑制性失衡的增加。细胞间通讯分析揭示了AD人类和ALP树鼩之间的平行模式,两者在大多数细胞类型中都显示出相互作用强度和数量的降低。总体而言,我们的研究提供了关于ALP树鼩海马体细胞和分子景观的丰富、高分辨率资源,强化了树鼩作为AD研究强大模型的实用性。