Interneuron origin and molecular diversity in the human fetal brain

GABAergic inhibitory neurons are crucial in maintaining the stability of neural circuits through synaptic inhibition in the human brain. In this study, we used single-cell RNA sequencing to profile the transcriptomes of fetal cells collected along an early developmental time course to clarify the origin and diversification of interneurons. The heterogeneity of interneurons within the human subpallium is observed in ganglionic eminence precursors and driven by a string of gene regulatory networks that exhibit evident differences in the subventricular zone during the late first trimester. We identified conserved molecular signatures between the cardinal interneuron subtypes of ganglionic eminence precursors and adult interneurons through comparing embryonic and mature cortex data sets. Overall design: Single cell sequencing of human fetal subpallium