sFANS RNAseq profiling of deep layer cortical cell types from human control and Huntington's Disease samples

The properties of the cell types that are most vulnerable in the Huntington's disease (HD) cortex have not been delineated. Here we have employed serial fluorescence activated nuclear sorting (sFANS) and deep molecular profiling to demonstrate that layer 5a pyramidal neurons are selectively vulnerable in primary motor cortex and other cortical areas. Overall design: Nuclei from neuronal cell populations from the deep layers of cortex (layers 5 and 6) were isolated from post-mortem human brain samples. Nuclei were labeled with fluorescent antibodies and sorted into cell-type specific populations by FACS. RNA was extracted, libraries were generated for RNA sequencing, and analyses of cell-type specific nuclear gene expression transcript levels were performed. Genotyping information is listed for patient samples and for a select set of control samples.