Journal Article

Anatomical and single-cell transcriptional profiling of the murine habenular complex

Hochbaum, Daniel, Sabatini, Bernardo L, Wallace, Michael L, Huang, Kee Wui, Radeljic, Gianna, Hyun, Minsuk

2020

Overview

The lateral habenula (LHb) is an epithalamic brain structure critical for processing and adapting to negative action outcomes. However, despite the importance of LHb to behavior and the clear anatomical and molecular diversity of LHb neurons, the neuron types of the habenula remain unknown. Here, we use high-throughput single-cell transcriptional profiling, monosynaptic retrograde tracing, and multiplexed FISH to characterize the cells of the mouse habenula. We find five subtypes of neurons in the medial habenula (MHb) that are organized into anatomical subregions. In the LHb, we describe four neuronal subtypes and show that they differentially target dopaminergic and GABAergic cells in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). These data provide a valuable resource for future study of habenular function and dysfunction and demonstrate neuronal subtype specificity in the LHb-VTA circuit.

• Publisher: eLife Science Publications, Ltd,eLife Sciences Publications Ltd,eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
• Subject: Animals / Brain Mapping / Criminal investigation / Datasets / dopamine / Dopamine receptors / Dopaminergic Neurons / GABA / GABAergic Neurons / Gene expression / Gene Expression Profiling / Genetic aspects / Habenula / Habenula - cytology / Habenula - metabolism / Luteinizing hormone / Mice / Neurons / Neuroscience / Probability distribution / serotonin / Single-Cell Analysis / Transcription / Transcription (Genetics) / Transcriptome / Ventral Tegmental Area - cytology / Ventral tegmentum / VTA / γ-Aminobutyric acid