Cited by 191Single-cell and spatial transcriptomicsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchMemory and Neural Mechanisms

Decoding molecular and cellular heterogeneity of mouse nucleus accumbens

Open access
Chen, Renchao, Blosser, Timothy R., Djekidel, Mohamed N., Hao, Junjie, Bhattacherjee, Aritra, Chen, Wenqiang, Tuesta, Luis M., Zhuang, Xiaowei +1 more·2021·Nature Neuroscience

Abstract

The nucleus accumbens (NAc) plays an important role in regulating multiple behaviors, and its dysfunction has been linked to many neural disorders. However, the molecular, cellular and anatomic heterogeneity underlying its functional diversity remains incompletely understood. In this study, we generated a cell census of the mouse NAc using single-cell RNA sequencing and multiplexed error-robust fluorescence in situ hybridization, revealing a high level of cell heterogeneity in this brain region. Here we show that the transcriptional and spatial diversity of neuron subtypes underlie the NAc's anatomic and functional heterogeneity. These findings explain how the seemingly simple neuronal composition of the NAc achieves its highly heterogenous structure and diverse functions. Collectively, our study generates a spatially resolved cell taxonomy for understanding the structure and function of the NAc, which demonstrates the importance of combining molecular and spatial information in revealing the fundamental features of the nervous system.

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  • The exclusion of the ventral striatum from subtype 1 projections potentially indicates a lack of involvement in reward, motivation, and valence processing.

    “subtype 1 projections exclude the ventral striatum, potentially indicating a lack of involvement in reward, motivation, and valence processing [27][28][29][30].”

    From The Insular Cortex: An Interface Between Sensation, Emotion and Cognition (2024) · cites this paper as [28]

    The Results section, “Link MSN subtypes to potential specific neuronal functions” (page unavailable), connects nucleus accumbens subregions with hedonic responses and aversive-stimulus encoding. It does not describe the citing document’s subtype 1 projections, establish that they exclude the ventral striatum, or infer from that exclusion a lack of involvement in reward, motivation, or valence processing. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [73]Wickham H ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis (Springer, 2016).

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Authors
Chen, R., Blosser, T. R., Djekidel, M. N., Hao, J., Bhattacherjee, A., Chen, W., Tuesta, L. M., Zhuang, X., & Zhang, Y.
Affiliations
  • Boston Children's Hospital (US)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
Corresponding author
  • Zhuang, Xiaowei
  • Zhang, Yi
Venue
Nature Neuroscience
Published
2021-10-18
Volume
24
Issue
12
Pages
1757-1771
ISSN
  • 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
  • 1546-1726
OpenAlex
W3207213424
Cited by
191
References
80
Citations by year
2026: 29 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 62 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 26
FWCI
10.12
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health (U19MH114821, R01DA042283)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Keywords
nucleus accumbens, neuronal heterogeneity, neuronal cell types, spatial transcriptomics, single-cell RNA sequencing, mouse brain, transcriptional diversity, functional diversity
MeSH terms
Animals, Brain, Neurons, Nucleus Accumbens, In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence, Mice

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