scRNAseq analysis of rat and human dorsal root ganglions

Peripheral sensory neurons located in dorsal root ganglia relay sensory information from the peripheral tissue to the brain. Satellite glial cells (SGC) are unique glial cells that form an envelope completely surrounding each sensory neuron soma. This organization allows for close bi-directional communication between the neuron and it surrounding glial coat. Morphological and molecular changes in SGC have been observed in pathological conditions such as inflammation, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, viral infection and nerve injuries. SGC play critical roles in neuronal excitability and nociception, as well as contribute to promote axon regeneration. Whether findings made in rodent model systems are relevant to human physiology has not been investigated. Here we present a detailed characterization of SGC across species. We characterized the transcriptional profile of SGC in mouse, rat and human at the single cell level. Our findings suggest that key features of SGC in rodent models are conserved in human. These results support the notion that SGC in the sensory system are largely conserved between species. Our study provides the potential to leverage on rodent and human SGC properties and unravel novel mechanisms and potential targets for treating nerve injuries. Overall design: We have applied the high-throughput single-cell mRNA sequencing technique, using the Chromium Single Cell Gene Expression Solution (10x Genomics) to rat L3, L4 DRG, 2 biological replicates for each sample and human DRG (L4,5) from 5 donors.