Transcriptional alterations of prefrontal cortex astrocytes in a subpopulation of suicide completers – bioinformatics analysis of nuclei RNAseq

Materials: pioneer isolation and subsequent RNAseq of astrocytic nuclei from fresh-frozen human brain samples of patients suffering from major depression (MDD).

Task/Hypothesis: changes in the molecular profile of astrocytes may underlie metabolic reprogramming.

Solution: bioinformatics analysis of nuclei RNAseq data using the Intelliseq RNA-seq workflow.

Result: The novel protocol allows the detection of transcriptomic changes masked in bulk tissue. Astrocytes are a promising target space for psychiatry. The study revealed novel potential targets in MDD therapy.

The research was conducted by:
BioMed X Institute, Heidelberg, Germany; Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Biberach an der Riss, Germany; Laboratory of Pharmacogenomics, Department of Molecular Neuropharmacology, Maj Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kraków, Poland; Intelliseq, Kraków, Poland; McGill Group for Suicide Studies, Douglas Mental Health University Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Functional Neuroanatomy, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany; Łukasiewicz Research Network – PORT Polish Institute for Technology Development, Wrocław, Poland

Read the full story here:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924977X21014279?via%3Dihub .