Journal Article

Individual human cortical progenitors can produce excitatory and inhibitory neurons

Keefe, Matthew G., Crouch, Elizabeth E., Mancia Leon, Walter R., Delgado, Ryan N., Alvarez-Buylla, Arturo, Ziffra, Ryan S., Nowakowski, Tomasz J., Allen, Denise E.

2022

Overview

The cerebral cortex is a cellularly complex structure comprising a rich diversity of neuronal and glial cell types. Cortical neurons can be broadly categorized into two classes—excitatory neurons that use the neurotransmitter glutamate, and inhibitory interneurons that use γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Previous developmental studies in rodents have led to a prevailing model in which excitatory neurons are born from progenitors located in the cortex, whereas cortical interneurons are born from a separate population of progenitors located outside the developing cortex in the ganglionic eminences 1 – 5 . However, the developmental potential of human cortical progenitors has not been thoroughly explored. Here we show that, in addition to excitatory neurons and glia, human cortical progenitors are also capable of producing GABAergic neurons with the transcriptional characteristics and morphologies of cortical interneurons. By developing a cellular barcoding tool called ‘single-cell-RNA-sequencing-compatible tracer for identifying clonal relationships’ (STICR), we were able to carry out clonal lineage tracing of 1,912 primary human cortical progenitors from six specimens, and to capture both the transcriptional identities and the clonal relationships of their progeny. A subpopulation of cortically born GABAergic neurons was transcriptionally similar to cortical interneurons born from the caudal ganglionic eminence, and these cells were frequently related to excitatory neurons and glia. Our results show that individual human cortical progenitors can generate both excitatory neurons and cortical interneurons, providing a new framework for understanding the origins of neuronal diversity in the human cortex. Molecular barcoding is used to show that progenitor cells in the human cortex can produce both excitatory neurons and inhibitory interneurons, with implications for our understanding of the evolution of the human brain.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 13/100 / 42/35 / 45/91 / 631/136/368/2430 / 631/378/2571/2578 / Cell Lineage / Cerebral cortex / Cerebral Cortex - cytology / Cloning / GABAergic Neurons - cytology / Gene expression / Glial cells / Glial stem cells / Humanities and Social Sciences / Humans / Interneurons / Interneurons - cytology / Libraries / multidisciplinary / Neural Inhibition / Neural stem cells / Neurogenesis / Neuronal-glial interactions / Neurons / Neurons - cytology / Neurotransmitters / Progenitor cells / Progeny / Science / Science (multidisciplinary) / Tracers / Transcription / γ-Aminobutyric acid