Single cell brain atlas of Parkinson’s disease mouse model

Abstract Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease leading to the impairment of movement execution. PD pathogenesis has been largely investigated, either limited to bulk transcriptomic levels or at certain cell types, which failed to capture cellular heterogeneity and intrinsic interplays among distinct cell types. Here, we report the application of single-nucleus RNA-seq on midbrain, striatum, and cerebellum of the α-syn-A53T mouse, a well-established PD mouse model, and matched controls, generating the first single cell transcriptomic atlas for the PD model mouse brain composed of 46,174 individual cells. Additionally, we comprehensively depicted the dysfunctions in PD pathology, covering the elevation of NF-κB activity, the alteration of ion channel components, the perturbation of protein homeostasis network and the dysregulation of glutamatergic signaling. Notably, we identified a variety of cell types closely associated with PD risk genes. Taken together, our study provides valuable resources to systematically dissect the molecular mechanism of PD pathogenesis at the single cell resolution, which facilitates the development of novel approaches for diagnosis and therapies against PD.