Cell Reports
Volume 39, Issue 1, 5 April 2022, 110616
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An atlas of transcriptionally defined cell populations in the rat ventral tegmental area

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110616Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Transcriptional atlas of rat ventral tegmental area (VTA) generated using snRNA-seq

  • Computational prediction and validation of novel dopamine neuron marker genes

  • Population-specific enrichment of gene sets linked to psychiatric disorders

  • Searchable and interactive database to query genes of interest in VTA

Summary

The ventral tegmental area (VTA) is a complex brain region that is essential for reward function and frequently implicated in neuropsychiatric disease. While decades of research on VTA function have focused on dopamine neurons, recent evidence has identified critical roles for GABAergic and glutamatergic neurons in reward processes. Additionally, although subsets of VTA neurons express genes involved in the synthesis and transport of multiple neurotransmitters, characterization of these combinatorial populations has largely relied on low-throughput methods. To comprehensively define the molecular architecture of the VTA, we performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing on 21,600 cells from the rat VTA. Analysis of neuronal subclusters identifies selective markers for dopamine and combinatorial neurons, reveals expression profiles for receptors targeted by drugs of abuse, and demonstrates population-specific enrichment of gene sets linked to brain disorders. These results highlight the heterogeneity of the VTA and provide a resource for further exploration of VTA gene expression.

Keywords

dopamine
ventral tegmental area
snRNA-seq
neurotransmitter co-release
transcriptomics

Research topic

CP: Neuroscience

Data and code availability

  • Sequencing data that supports the findings of this study are available in Gene Expression Omnibus. Accession number for the study is listed in the key resources table.

  • All original code has been deposited at Zenodo and is publicly available as of the date of publication. DOIs are listed in the key resources table.

  • Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

Cited by (0)

3

These authors contributed equally

4

Lead contact