中国科学院脑智卓越中心严军团队发现，树突和轴突的单神经元分析揭示小鼠前额叶皮层的网络组织。相关论文于2023年5月22日在线发表在《自然—神经科学》杂志上。

研究人员报告了小鼠前额叶皮层（PFC）近2000个神经元的完整树突和轴突形态。研究人员确定了不同层级和PFC亚区的体细胞、树突和轴突的形态变化，以及体细胞与细胞结构比例的一般规则。研究人员在1515个锥体投射神经元中发现了24种形态上可区分的树突亚型，以及405个具有独特轴突投射模式的非典型锥体投射神经元和刺星状神经元。此外，树突、局部轴突和长距离轴突之间的对应分析显示了与电生理表型相关的连贯的形态学变化。最后，树突-轴突综合分析揭示了PFC中投射神经元类型之间潜在的柱内、半球间和柱间连接的组织。总之，这项研究为PFC神经网络的重建和分析提供了一个全面的结构汇辑。

据介绍，树突和轴突的结构构成了神经网络连接的基础，但它们在单神经元水平上的确切关系仍不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: Single-neuron analysis of dendrites and axons reveals the network organization in mouse prefrontal cortex

Author: Gao, Le, Liu, Sang, Wang, Yanzhi, Wu, Qiwen, Gou, Lingfeng, Yan, Jun

Issue&Volume: 2023-05-22

Abstract: The structures of dendrites and axons form the basis for the connectivity of neural network, but their precise relationship at single-neuron level remains unclear. Here we report the complete dendrite and axon morphology of nearly 2,000 neurons in mouse prefrontal cortex (PFC). We identified morphological variations of somata, dendrites and axons across laminar layers and PFC subregions and the general rules of somatodendritic scaling with cytoarchitecture. We uncovered 24 morphologically distinguishable dendrite subtypes in 1,515 pyramidal projection neurons and 405 atypical pyramidal projection neurons and spiny stellate neurons with unique axon projection patterns. Furthermore, correspondence analysis among dendrites, local axons and long-range axons revealed coherent morphological changes associated with electrophysiological phenotypes. Finally, integrative dendrite–axon analysis uncovered the organization of potential intra-column, inter-hemispheric and inter-column connectivity among projection neuron types in PFC. Together, our study provides a comprehensive structural repertoire for the reconstruction and analysis of PFC neural network.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-023-01339-y

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01339-y