Expression data from FACS purified nociceptor neurons from peripheral sensory ganglia. Mus musculus

The goal of this study was to analyze global gene expression in specific populations of nociceptor sensory neurons, the neurons that detect damaging/noxious stimuli. The dorsal root ganglia (DRG), trigeminal ganglia, and nodose ganglia are anatomically distinct peripheral sensory ganglia that contain nociceptors which innervate skin, gut, lungs, and other distinct organ tissues. We used flow cytometry to purify nociceptors from these ganglia and profiled their global gene expression signatures to compare gene expression between these different anatomically distinct nociceptors. Overall design: Nav1.8-Cre were bred with Rosa26-TdTomato to generate Nav1.8-Cre/R26-TdTomato reporter progeny, where all peripheral nociceptor neurons are genetically marked with red fluroescence due to specific expression of the TTX- resistant sodium channel Nav1.8. Lumbar region dorsal root ganglia (DRG), trigeminal ganglia, and nodose ganglia were dissected from mice (3 mice were pooled/sample). Highly red fluorescent neurons were Facs purified, RNA extracted, and processed for microarray analysis.

本研究旨在分析特定群体的伤害性感觉神经元（nociceptor sensory neurons）中的全局基因表达水平，这类神经元负责感知损伤性或伤害性刺激。背根神经节（dorsal root ganglia, DRG）、三叉神经节（trigeminal ganglia）与结状神经节（nodose ganglia）为解剖结构相互独立的外周感觉神经节，其内包含支配皮肤、肠道、肺部及其他多种器官组织的伤害性感受器。我们通过流式细胞术（flow cytometry）从上述神经节中纯化伤害性感受器，并对其全局基因表达特征进行表征分析，以比较不同解剖起源的伤害性感受器之间的基因表达差异。

总体实验设计：将Nav1.8-Cre小鼠与Rosa26-TdTomato小鼠交配，获得Nav1.8-Cre/R26-TdTomato报告子代。由于TTX抵抗型钠通道Nav1.8的特异性表达，所有外周伤害性感觉神经元都会被红色荧光进行遗传标记。从小鼠体内剥离腰椎段背根神经节、三叉神经节及结状神经节，每3只小鼠的组织混合为一个样本。通过荧光激活细胞分选（FACS）纯化高红色荧光的神经元，提取RNA后进行基因芯片分析（microarray analysis）。