Researchers at Rutgers have made significant strides in understanding the cellular foundations of brain networks, identifying how different brain cells interact to support complex functions.
Using advanced genetic technologies and post-mortem gene expression atlases, they discovered how specific cell types correlate with functional networks in the human brain. These insights could revolutionize our approach to treating mental health and neurological diseases by providing a clearer picture of the cellular basis of brain function.
New Insights Into Brain Networks
Researchers at Rutgers’ Brain Health Institute (BHI) and Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research (CAHBIR) have discovered how different types of brain cells collaborate to form large-scale functional networks. These interconnected systems support essential brain functions, from sensory processing to complex decision-making, and their findings open new pathways for understanding brain health and disease.
Published today (November 21) in Nature Neuroscience, the study identifies the cellular foundations of cognition and mental health. By mapping these intricate connections, researchers have deepened our understanding of how brain cells contribute to mental processes and disorders.
Advances in Brain Cell Research
The brain’s ability to function stems from the diverse cell types within the cortex, the outermost layer responsible for complex mental tasks. A core focus in neuroscience is unraveling how genetic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms drive the brain’s organizational properties, often studied through advanced techniques like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Historically, scientists studied brain organization properties by examining tissue samples from post-mortem or by using invasive techniques in animals, such as studying tissue structure (histology), tracing neural pathways, measuring electrical activity (electrophysiology) or observing changes after specific areas were damaged (lesion methods).
Gene Expression Atlases and Brain Mapping
Advances in genetics and technology now allow researchers to study how brain cells are organized in human tissue more precisely. In this study, Rutgers researchers used recently developed post-mortem gene expression atlases, which map how genes are differentially expressed across brain regions, to explore how different types of cells may spatially align with brain networks studies in the general population.
Researchers found that certain cell-type distributions align with specific networks in the brain’s cortex, both at the level of individual cell types and multivariate cellular profiles, or fingerprints.
Implications for Brain Health and Disease
“These findings highlight a connection between the functional organization of the human brain and its cellular underpinnings,” said senior author Avram Holmes, associate professor of psychiatry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and core faculty member of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute and the Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research.
“The study has significant implications for understanding the cellular basis of brain functions across health and disease,” Holmes said.
Future Directions in Neuroscience
This research sets the stage for future studies to explore how our diverse cell types work together within the brain’s networks and to test other potential models of how cells contribute to brain function.
Future studies should examine ways to integrate the hierarchical structure of these diverse cell definitions in analyses and consider alternate models of in vivo brain functioning, said Holmes.
Reference: “The cell-type underpinnings of the human functional cortical connectome” by Xi-Han Zhang, Kevin M. Anderson, Hao-Ming Dong, Sidhant Chopra, Elvisha Dhamala, Prashant S. Emani, Mark B. Gerstein, Daniel S. Margulies and Avram J. Holmes, 21 November 2024, Nature Neuroscience.
DOI: 10.1038/s41593-024-01812-2
Funding: National Institute of Mental Health, Northwell Health/ Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research Advancing Women in Science, Medicine Career Development Award, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research Barbara Zucker Emerging Scientist Award, NIH/National Institutes of Health
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