Unprecedented Revelation on Neuropsychiatric Disorders Through Human Brain Cell Atlas
The University of California San Diego is leading a revolutionary initiative by analyzing over a million human brain cells, establishing intricate maps of gene switches in various brain cell types, and uncovering the connections between specific cell types and prevalent neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease, and major depression. This extensive project, highlighted in a special Science issue on October 13, 2023, forms part of the ambitious Brain Research Through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies Initiative (The BRAIN Initiative) initiated by the National Institute of Health in 2014.
Each human brain cell contains the same DNA sequence, but diverse cell types employ different genes in varying quantities, resulting in an array of brain cells contributing to the complexity of neural circuits. Understanding the molecular distinctions among these cell types is crucial for unraveling the intricacies of brain function and designing novel treatments for neuropsychiatric ailments.
In their comprehensive study, researchers scrutinized over 1.1 million brain cells across 42 distinct brain regions from three human brains, identifying 107 different brain cell subtypes. They successfully correlated the molecular biology aspects of these cells with a broad spectrum of neuropsychiatric illnesses. Additionally, the team developed sophisticated machine learning models to forecast the impact of specific DNA sequence variations on gene regulation, shedding light on their role in disease development.
Despite the profound insights provided by this groundbreaking research, scientists emphasize that mapping the brain is an ongoing process. In 2022, UC San Diego, along with the Salk Institute and other collaborators, established the Center for Multiomic Human Brain Cell Atlas, aiming to investigate cells from numerous human brains and study brain transformations during development, aging, and disease progression.
By scaling up their research to an even higher level of detail involving a larger sample of brains, scientists are striving to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the biological underpinnings of neuropsychiatric disorders and their potential therapeutic interventions.