RNASeq of cold-sensitive and cold-insensitive neurons from the pre-optic area of hypothalamus of mice

The preoptic area of the hypothalamus (POA) contains intrinsically warm and cold-sensitive neurons, which are thought to be critically involved in mammalian thermoregulation. However, the precise physiological roles and the molecular markers of the cold-sensitive POA neurons have not been determined yet. Here, we tackle this problem by performing calcium-imaging guided separation and collection of cold-sensitive and cold-insensitive dissociated neurons from the mouse POA, followed by RNASeq and differential transcriptomics of these cell populations. Overall design: ~100-200 individual cold-sensitive or cold-insensitive neurons from the POA of mouse hypothalamus were collected and pooled together for 1 sample. RNA was isolated from samples and high-throughput deep sequencing of the RNA performed. The study included 3 biological replicates of each type, with a total of 6 samples.