Single Cell Studies in Neuroscience
Single Cell Studies
The cell is the basic unit of structure and function of organisms, and cell-based studies are conducive to reveal the chemical essence and laws of life science. The past life science research usually focuses on a large number of cells of the limitations of the tiny cell volume and the sensitivity of the research techniques. However, there are significant microheterogeneity and differences between different individuals of the same cell type or different cells of the same individual. Therefore, the experimental results based on large numbers of cells can’t fully reflect the essence of life activities at the single-cell level.
In recent years, the rapid development of the analysis techniques, such as cell isolation, microfluidic, single-cell sequencing, greatly promoted the advancement of life science research at the single-cell level, namely single-cell analysis. Studying and analyzing the proteomes, gene expressions, and metabolisms of a single cell can not only characterize the cell heterogeneity but also better elucidate the molecular mechanisms of the physiological and pathological pathways. Currently, the single-cell study has already made huge contributions to the fields of stem cells, neuroscience, immunology, even clinical diagnosis, etc.
Single Cell Studies in Neuroscience
As the major part of the mammalian nervous system, the brain is an extremely complex organ playing essential roles in the regulation of both physiological activities and higher cognitive functions. Diverse and numerous neurons interconnect with each other forming a sophisticated network, which is the key to the nervous system in information transmission and processing. Therefore, single cell studies in multiple dimensions on these heterogeneous neurons, especially single cell omics analysis in recent, playing an increasingly important role in neuroscience research.
- Single Cell Electroporation
- Single Cell Genomic DNA Analysis
- Single Cell Transcriptome Analysis
Single-cell electroporation is a useful technique that allows the transportation of macromolecules, such as DNA, RNA, dyes, and peptides, into and out of a single cell under the external electric field. It has been widely applied for a variety of research fields, particularly gene therapy and neuroscience research.
Single-cell genomic DNA analysis, a kind of single-cell genomics, is analyzing the genomic DNA from an individual cell by next-generation sequencing technologies. In neuroscience, single-cell genomic DNA analysis can be utilized for the identification of different types or subtypes of neurons, examination of gene mutations, characterization of neural cell differences.
Single-cell transcriptome analysis, also known as single-cell transcriptomics, is another type of single-cell sequencing that amplifies and analyzes the whole transcriptome or mRNA by next-generation sequencing technologies. It has greatly contributed to study the cellular composition, pathophysiological pathways, and difference analysis of neurological disorders and cancers.
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