scholarly journals Modeling reveals human-rodent differences in h-current kinetics influencing resonance in cortical layer 5 neurons

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Rich ◽  
Homeira Moradi Chameh ◽  
Vladislav Sekulic ◽  
Taufik A. Valiante ◽  
Frances K. Skinner
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Cell Model ◽  
Model Development ◽  
Compartment Model ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Cortical Layer ◽  
Neuron Models ◽  
Cellular Models ◽  
Human Neurons ◽  
Human Specific

AbstractWhile our understanding of human neurons is often inferred from rodent data, inter-species differences between neurons can be captured by building cellular models specifically from human data. This includes understanding differences at the level of ion channels and their implications for human brain function. Thus, we here present a full spiking, biophysically-detailed multi-compartment model of a human layer 5 (L5) cortical pyramidal cell. Model development was primarily based on morphological and electrophysiological data from the same human L5 neuron, avoiding confounds of experimental variability. Focus was placed on describing the behavior of the hyperpolarization-activated cation (h-) channel, given increasing interest in this channel due to its role in pacemaking and differentiating cell types. We ensured that the model exhibited post-inhibitory rebound (PIR) spiking considering its relationship with the h-current, along with other general spiking characteristics. The model was validated against data not used in its development, which highlighted distinctly slower kinetics of the human h-current relative to the rodent setting. We linked the lack of subthreshold resonance observed in human L5 neurons to these human-specific h-current kinetics. This work shows that it is possible and necessary to build human-specific biophysical neuron models in order to understand human brain dynamics.

scholarly journals Modeling Reveals Human–Rodent Differences in H-Current Kinetics Influencing Resonance in Cortical Layer 5 Neurons

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Rich ◽  
Homeira Moradi Chameh ◽  
Vladislav Sekulic ◽  
Taufik A Valiante ◽  
Frances K Skinner
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Cell Model ◽  
Model Development ◽  
Compartment Model ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Cortical Layer ◽  
Neuron Models ◽  
Cellular Models ◽  
Human Neurons ◽  
Human Specific

Abstract While our understanding of human neurons is often inferred from rodent data, inter-species differences between neurons can be captured by building cellular models specifically from human data. This includes understanding differences at the level of ion channels and their implications for human brain function. Thus, we here present a full spiking, biophysically detailed multi-compartment model of a human layer 5 (L5) cortical pyramidal cell. Model development was primarily based on morphological and electrophysiological data from the same human L5 neuron, avoiding confounds of experimental variability. Focus was placed on describing the behavior of the hyperpolarization-activated cation (h-) channel, given increasing interest in this channel due to its role in pacemaking and differentiating cell types. We ensured that the model exhibited post-inhibitory rebound spiking considering its relationship with the h-current, along with other general spiking characteristics. The model was validated against data not used in its development, which highlighted distinctly slower kinetics of the human h-current relative to the rodent setting. We linked the lack of subthreshold resonance observed in human L5 neurons to these human-specific h-current kinetics. This work shows that it is possible and necessary to build human-specific biophysical neuron models in order to understand human brain dynamics.

scholarly journals FR-Match: Robust matching of cell type clusters from single cell RNA sequencing data using the Friedman-Rafsky non-parametric test

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Zhang ◽  
Brian D. Aevermann ◽  
Trygve E. Bakken ◽  
Jeremy A. Miller ◽  
Rebecca D. Hodge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Rna Sequencing ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
R Package ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Cortical Layer ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Sequencing Data

AbstractSingle cell/nucleus RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) is emerging as an essential tool to unravel the phenotypic heterogeneity of cells in complex biological systems. While computational methods for scRNAseq cell type clustering have advanced, the ability to integrate datasets to identify common and novel cell types across experiments remains a challenge. Here, we introduce a cluster-to-cluster cell type matching method – FR-Match – that utilizes supervised feature selection for dimensionality reduction and incorporates shared information among cells to determine whether two cell type clusters share the same underlying multivariate gene expression distribution. FR-Match is benchmarked with existing cell-to-cell and cell-to-cluster cell type matching methods using both simulated and real scRNAseq data. FR-Match proved to be a stringent method that produced fewer erroneous matches of distinct cell subtypes and had the unique ability to identify novel cell phenotypes in new datasets. In silico validation demonstrated that the proposed workflow is the only self-contained algorithm that was robust to increasing numbers of true negatives (i.e. non-represented cell types). FR-Match was applied to two human brain scRNAseq datasets sampled from cortical layer 1 and full thickness middle temporal gyrus. When mapping cell types identified in specimens isolated from these overlapping human brain regions, FR-Match precisely recapitulated the laminar characteristics of matched cell type clusters, reflecting their distinct neuroanatomical distributions. An R package and Shiny application are provided at https://github.com/JCVenterInstitute/FRmatch for users to interactively explore and match scRNAseq cell type clusters with complementary visualization tools.

scholarly journals Accelerated evolution of oligodendrocytes in human brain

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Berto ◽  
Isabel Mendizabal ◽  
Noriyoshi Usui ◽  
Kazuya Toriumi ◽  
Paramita Chatterjee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Specific Expression ◽  
Accelerated Evolution ◽  
Human Brain Evolution ◽  
Cell Type Specific Expression ◽  
Human Specific

SUMMARYRecent discussions of human brain evolution have largely focused on increased neuron numbers and changes in their connectivity and expression. However, it is increasingly appreciated that oligodendrocytes play important roles in cognitive function and disease. Whether both cell-types follow similar or distinctive evolutionary trajectories is not known. We examined the transcriptomes of neurons and oligodendrocytes in the frontal cortex of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques. We identified human-specific trajectories of gene expression in neurons and oligodendrocytes and show that both cell-types exhibit human-specific upregulation. Moreover, oligodendrocytes have undergone accelerated gene expression evolution in the human lineage compared to neurons. The signature of acceleration is enriched for cell type-specific expression alterations in schizophrenia. These results underscore the importance of oligodendrocytes in human brain evolution.

scholarly journals Genetic Mechanisms Underlying the Evolution of Connectivity in the Human Cortex

2022 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ewoud R. E. Schmidt ◽  
Franck Polleux
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Genetic Modifiers ◽  
Physiological Properties ◽  
Human Neurons ◽  
Genetic Mechanisms ◽  
And Function ◽  
Human Specific

One of the most salient features defining modern humans is our remarkable cognitive capacity, which is unrivaled by any other species. Although we still lack a complete understanding of how the human brain gives rise to these unique abilities, the past several decades have witnessed significant progress in uncovering some of the genetic, cellular, and molecular mechanisms shaping the development and function of the human brain. These features include an expansion of brain size and in particular cortical expansion, distinct physiological properties of human neurons, and modified synaptic development. Together they specify the human brain as a large primate brain with a unique underlying neuronal circuit architecture. Here, we review some of the known human-specific features of neuronal connectivity, and we outline how novel insights into the human genome led to the identification of human-specific genetic modifiers that played a role in the evolution of human brain development and function. Novel experimental paradigms are starting to provide a framework for understanding how the emergence of these human-specific genomic innovations shaped the structure and function of neuronal circuits in the human brain.

scholarly journals Single-nuclei isoform RNA sequencing reveals combination patterns of transcript elements across human brain cell types

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon A Hardwick ◽  
Wen Hu ◽  
Anoushka Joglekar ◽  
Li Fan ◽  
Paul G Collier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Rna Sequencing ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Brain Cell ◽  
Rna Seq ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Long Read ◽  
Cell Type Specific ◽  
Adjacent Exon ◽  
Human Specific

Single-nuclei RNA-Seq is being widely employed to investigate cell types, especially of human brain and other frozen samples. In contrast to single-cell approaches, however, the majority of single-nuclei RNA counts originate from partially processed RNA leading to intronic cDNAs, thus hindering the investigation of complete isoforms. Here, using microfluidics, PCR-based artifact removal, target enrichment, and long-read sequencing, we developed single-nuclei isoform RNA-sequencing ('SnISOr-Seq'), and applied it to the analysis of human adult frontal cortex samples. We found that exons associated with autism exhibit coordinated and more cell-type specific inclusion than exons associated with schizophrenia or ALS. We discovered two distinct modes of combination patterns: first, those distinguishing cell types in the human brain. These are enriched in combinations of TSS-exon, exon-polyA site, and distant (non-adjacent) exon pairs. Second, those with all isoform combinations found within one neural cell type, which are enriched in adjacent exon pairs. Furthermore, adjacent exon pairs are predominantly mutually associated, while distant pairs are frequently mutually exclusive. Finally, we observed that human-specific exons are as tightly coordinated as conserved exons, pointing to an efficient evolutionary mechanism underpinning coordination. SnISOr-Seq opens the door to single-nuclei long-read isoform analysis in the human brain, and in any frozen, archived or hard-to-dissociate sample.

scholarly journals Revealing the transcription factor regulatory context of human specific cortical development using single-cell multi-omics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Wu ◽  
Blue Lake ◽  
Brandon Sos ◽  
Song Chen ◽  
Thu E. Duong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transcription Factor ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Target Genes ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Chromatin Interaction ◽  
Specific Sequence ◽  
Enhancer Activity ◽  
Genomic Regions ◽  
Human Specific

AbstractHuman behaviors are at least partially driven by genomic regions that influence human-specific neurodevelopment. This includes genomic regions undergoing human specific sequence acceleration (Human Accelerated Regions or HARs) and regions showing human-specific enhancer activity (Human Gained Enhancers or HGEs) not present in other primates. However, prior studies on HAR/HGE activities involved mixtures of brain cell types and focused only on putative downstream target genes. Here, we directly measured cell type specific HAR/HGE activity in the developing fetal human brain using two independent single-cell chromatin accessibility datasets with matching single-cell gene expression data. Transcription factor (TF) motif analyses identified upstream TFs binding to HARs/HGEs and identified LHX2, a key regulator of forebrain development, as an active HGE regulator in neuronal progenitors. We integrated our TF motif analyses with published chromatin interaction maps to build detailed regulatory networks where TFs are linked to downstream genes via HARs/HGEs. Through these networks, we identified a potential regulatory role for NFIC in human neuronal progenitor networks via modulating the Notch signaling and cell adhesion pathways. Therefore, by using a single cell multi-omics approach, we were able to capture both the upstream and downstream regulatory context of HARs/HGEs, which may provide a more comprehensive picture of the roles HARs/HGEs play amongst diverse fetal cell types of the developing human brain.

scholarly journals Establishing Cerebral Organoids as Models of Human-Specific Brain Evolution

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex A Pollen ◽  
Aparna Bhaduri ◽  
Madeline G Andrews ◽  
Tomasz J Nowakowski ◽  
Olivia S Meyerson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Radial Glia ◽  
Brain Size ◽  
Metabolic Stress ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Segmental Duplications ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Human Specific

Direct comparisons of human and non-human primate brain tissue have the potential to reveal molecular pathways underlying remarkable specializations of the human brain. However, chimpanzee tissue is largely inaccessible during neocortical neurogenesis when differences in brain size first appear. To identify human-specific features of cortical development, we leveraged recent innovations that permit generating pluripotent stem cell-derived cerebral organoids from chimpanzee. First, we systematically evaluated the fidelity of organoid models to primary human and macaque cortex, finding organoid models preserve gene regulatory networks related to cell types and developmental processes but exhibit increased metabolic stress. Second, we identified 261 genes differentially expressed in human compared to chimpanzee organoids and macaque cortex. Many of these genes overlap with human-specific segmental duplications and a subset suggest increased PI3K/AKT/mTOR activation in human outer radial glia. Together, our findings establish a platform for systematic analysis of molecular changes contributing to human brain development and evolution.

scholarly journals FR-Match: robust matching of cell type clusters from single cell RNA sequencing data using the Friedman–Rafsky non-parametric test

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Zhang ◽  
Brian D Aevermann ◽  
Trygve E Bakken ◽  
Jeremy A Miller ◽  
Rebecca D Hodge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Rna Sequencing ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
R Package ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Cortical Layer ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Cell Type ◽  
Sequencing Data

Abstract Single cell/nucleus RNA sequencing (scRNAseq) is emerging as an essential tool to unravel the phenotypic heterogeneity of cells in complex biological systems. While computational methods for scRNAseq cell type clustering have advanced, the ability to integrate datasets to identify common and novel cell types across experiments remains a challenge. Here, we introduce a cluster-to-cluster cell type matching method—FR-Match—that utilizes supervised feature selection for dimensionality reduction and incorporates shared information among cells to determine whether two cell type clusters share the same underlying multivariate gene expression distribution. FR-Match is benchmarked with existing cell-to-cell and cell-to-cluster cell type matching methods using both simulated and real scRNAseq data. FR-Match proved to be a stringent method that produced fewer erroneous matches of distinct cell subtypes and had the unique ability to identify novel cell phenotypes in new datasets. In silico validation demonstrated that the proposed workflow is the only self-contained algorithm that was robust to increasing numbers of true negatives (i.e. non-represented cell types). FR-Match was applied to two human brain scRNAseq datasets sampled from cortical layer 1 and full thickness middle temporal gyrus. When mapping cell types identified in specimens isolated from these overlapping human brain regions, FR-Match precisely recapitulated the laminar characteristics of matched cell type clusters, reflecting their distinct neuroanatomical distributions. An R package and Shiny application are provided at https://github.com/JCVenterInstitute/FRmatch for users to interactively explore and match scRNAseq cell type clusters with complementary visualization tools.

scholarly journals Accelerated evolution of oligodendrocytes in the human brain

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (48) ◽  
pp. 24334-24342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Berto ◽  
Isabel Mendizabal ◽  
Noriyoshi Usui ◽  
Kazuya Toriumi ◽  
Paramita Chatterjee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gene Expression ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Neuropsychiatric Disorders ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Accelerated Evolution ◽  
Expression Evolution ◽  
Human Specific

Recent discussions of human brain evolution have largely focused on increased neuron numbers and changes in their connectivity and expression. However, it is increasingly appreciated that oligodendrocytes play important roles in cognitive function and disease. Whether both cell types follow similar or distinctive evolutionary trajectories is not known. We examined the transcriptomes of neurons and oligodendrocytes in the frontal cortex of humans, chimpanzees, and rhesus macaques. We identified human-specific trajectories of gene expression in neurons and oligodendrocytes and show that both cell types exhibit human-specific up-regulation. Moreover, oligodendrocytes have undergone more pronounced accelerated gene expression evolution in the human lineage compared to neurons. We highlighted human-specific coexpression networks with specific functions. Our data suggest that oligodendrocyte human-specific networks are enriched for alternative splicing and transcriptional regulation. Oligodendrocyte networks are also enriched for variants associated with schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Such enrichments were not found in neuronal networks. These results offer a glimpse into the molecular mechanisms of oligodendrocytes during evolution and how such mechanisms are associated with neuropsychiatric disorders.

scholarly journals Single-cell atlas of early human brain development highlights heterogeneity of human neuroepithelial cells and early radial glia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ugomma C. Eze ◽  
Aparna Bhaduri ◽  
Maximilian Haeussler ◽  
Tomasz J. Nowakowski ◽  
Arnold R. Kriegstein
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Brain Development ◽  
Single Cell ◽  
Radial Glia ◽  
Cortical Development ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Human Cortex ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Human Brain Development ◽  
Neuroepithelial Cells

AbstractThe human cortex comprises diverse cell types that emerge from an initially uniform neuroepithelium that gives rise to radial glia, the neural stem cells of the cortex. To characterize the earliest stages of human brain development, we performed single-cell RNA-sequencing across regions of the developing human brain, including the telencephalon, diencephalon, midbrain, hindbrain and cerebellum. We identify nine progenitor populations physically proximal to the telencephalon, suggesting more heterogeneity than previously described, including a highly prevalent mesenchymal-like population that disappears once neurogenesis begins. Comparison of human and mouse progenitor populations at corresponding stages identifies two progenitor clusters that are enriched in the early stages of human cortical development. We also find that organoid systems display low fidelity to neuroepithelial and early radial glia cell types, but improve as neurogenesis progresses. Overall, we provide a comprehensive molecular and spatial atlas of early stages of human brain and cortical development.

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