Enteric glia express proteolipid protein 1 and are a transcriptionally unique population of glia in the mammalian nervous system

To identify the gene expression profile of enteric glia and assess the transcriptional similarity between enteric and extraenteric glia, we performed RNA sequencing analysis on PLP1-expressing cells in the mouse intestine. This analysis shows that enteric glia are transcriptionally unique and distinct from other cell types in the nervous system. Enteric glia express many genes characteristic of the myelinating glia, Schwann cells and oli- godendrocytes, although there is no evidence of myelination in the murine ENS. Total RNA expression profiles of PLP1 expressing enteric glial cells (GFP+) and non-glial cells (GFP-negative) were obtained from the ileum and colon of juvenile PLP1-eGFP transgenic mice.为明确肠胶质细胞(enteric glia)的基因表达谱，并评估肠胶质细胞与肠外胶质细胞(extraenteric glia)的转录相似性，我们对小鼠肠道内表达PLP1的细胞开展了RNA测序(RNA sequencing)分析。本次分析结果显示，肠胶质细胞在转录层面具有独特性，与神经系统内的其他细胞类型均存在显著差异。尽管小鼠肠神经系统(enteric nervous system, ENS)中未发现髓鞘形成的相关证据，但肠胶质细胞可表达髓鞘胶质细胞、施万细胞(Schwann cells)以及少突胶质细胞(oligodendrocytes)的诸多特征性基因。我们从幼年PLP1-eGFP转基因小鼠的回肠与结肠中，获取了表达PLP1的肠胶质细胞(GFP阳性)以及非胶质细胞(GFP阴性)的总RNA表达谱。