Neurons and astrocytes have distinct organelle signatures and responses to stress

Neurons and astrocytes play critical yet divergent roles in brain physiology and neurological conditions. Intracellular organelles are integral to cellular function. However, an in-depth characterization of organelles in live neural cells has not been performed. Here, we used multispectral imaging to simultaneously visualize six organelles – endoplasmic reticulum (ER), lysosomes, mitochondria, peroxisomes, Golgi, and lipid droplets – in live primary rodent neurons and astrocytes. We generated a dataset of 173 Z-stack and 99 time-lapse images accompanied by quantitative analysis of 1418 metrics (“the organelle signature”). Comparative analysis revealed clear cell-type specificity in organelle morphology and interactions. Neurons were characterized by prominent mitochondrial composition and interactions, while astrocytes contained more lysosomes and lipid droplet interactions. Additionally, neurons displayed a more robust organelle response than astrocytes to acute oxidative or ER stress. Our data provide a systems-level characterization of neuron and astrocyte organelles that can be a reference for understanding cell-type-specific physiology and disease.