Landmark map of human brain’s gene activity holds clues to Alzheimer’s disease and more

Key Points:

• Researchers have created the largest map of gene activity in the human prefrontal cortex, analyzing over six million individual cells from nearly 1,500 people to advance the study of neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases.
• The research, published in eight studies including three in Nature, was conducted by the PsychAD Consortium, an NIH-funded collaboration focusing on linking genetic variation, aging, and disease to changes in specific brain cells.
• The study concentrated on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex due to its critical role in executive functions such as planning and multitasking, and its involvement in psychiatric disorders and dementia.
• Tissue samples came from donors of diverse ages and ancestries, including neurotypical individuals and those diagnosed with eight different brain disorders, allowing for detailed single-cell RNA sequencing of neurons, immune, and vascular cells.
• This comprehensive gene activity map provides a valuable resource for understanding brain diseases, though researchers note that studying additional brain regions will be necessary to gain a complete picture.