A 25-million-cell atlas charts the brain's basal ganglia

A large collaboration mapped the basal ganglia in unprecedented detail, surfacing cell types tied to schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder and PTSD.

A large scientific collaboration studying the human brain has produced the most detailed map to date of the basal ganglia, a region closely associated with many psychiatric and neurologic disorders. Researchers profiled more than 25 million cells, using brain tissue donated after death.

The result is a parts list of the cell types in the region and how they are arranged. Within it, scientists found a new type of neuron that appears to play a role in schizophrenia. They also identified cell types linked to depression, bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

There was an early test of how such a map might be used. In mouse models of Parkinson's disease, a gene therapy designed to act in only a subset of basal ganglia cells worked as well as a blanket approach, and it was safer.

Why it moves abundance: treatments for brain disorders have long been blunt, in part because researchers lacked a clear view of which cells matter. A shared, open-ended reference of cell types gives many labs the same starting point for finding targets, which can lower the cost and time of early discovery. That is a knowledge gain first, and it could become a health gain later.

What to watch: the evidence for more precise therapies is preliminary and comes from mouse models only. Nothing here is a treatment for people yet, and the link between the new neuron and schizophrenia is described as apparent, not proven. The full account sits with STAT's reporting.

Source: STAT