Transcriptomic analyses of astrocyte heterogeneity within white matter tracts

Astrocytes are broadly categorized as protoplasmic or fibrous, with the former localized to synaptically dense gray matter regions and the latter associated with axons in the white matter. Much of what we know about astrocyte form and function is derived from the study of protoplasmic astrocytes, whereas fibrous astrocytes remain relatively unexplored. We investigated the transcriptome of uninjured fibrous astrocytes in the mouse from three regions: unmyelinated optic nerve head (ONH), myelinated optic nerve proper (ONP), and corpus callosum (CC). Comparative transcriptomic analyses of white matter astroctyes isolated from the ONH, ONP and CC at steady-state (untreated mice)星形胶质细胞（Astrocytes）主要分为原浆性星形胶质细胞与纤维性星形胶质细胞两类：前者定位于突触富集的灰质区域，后者则与白质内的轴突紧密关联。目前学界对星形胶质细胞形态与功能的认知大多源自对原浆性星形胶质细胞的研究，而纤维性星形胶质细胞的相关研究仍相对不足。本研究针对小鼠体内三个不同区域的未损伤纤维性星形胶质细胞的转录组（transcriptome）进行了分析，这三个区域分别为无髓视神经乳头（ONH）、有髓视神经干（ONP）以及胼胝体（CC）。针对稳态条件下（未处理小鼠）从ONH、ONP及CC中分离得到的白质星形胶质细胞所开展的比较转录组学分析