2025/02/24 by Riccardo Bocchi, Manja Thorwirth, Tatiana Simon‐Ebert +14 · 1 voice
Neuroscience · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms #Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics #Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
paper · doi:10.1038/s41593-025-01878-6
openalex publication_date 2025/02/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/03
Astrocyte heterogeneity has been well explored, but our understanding of white matter (WM) astrocytes and their distinctions from gray matter (GM) astrocytes remains limited. Here, we compared astrocytes from cortical GM and WM/corpus callosum (WM/CC) using single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics of the murine forebrain. The comparison revealed similarities but also significant differences between WM and GM astrocytes, including cytoskeletal and metabolic hallmarks specific to WM astrocytes with molecular properties also shared with human WM astrocytes. When we compared murine astrocytes from two different WM regions, the cortex and cerebellum, we found that they exhibited distinct, region-specific molecular properties, with the cerebellum lacking, for example, a specific cluster of WM astrocytes expressing progenitor and proliferation genes. Functional experiments confirmed astrocyte proliferation in the WM/CC, but not in the cerebellar WM, suggesting that the WM/CC may be a source of continued astrogenesis.