Anatomy

Neurite

Cell

Transcriptome

Neuroscience

Central nervous system

Biology

Gene

Gene expression

Endoneurium

Cell type

In vitro

Schwann cell

Perineurium

Sciatic nerve

Axon

Peripheral nervous system

Epineurium

Cell biology

Peripheral nerve

Genetics

Epineurial repair

eLife

Peripheral nerves are organ-like structures containing diverse cell types to optimize function. This interactive assembly includes mostly axon-associated Schwann cells, but also endothelial cells of supporting blood vessels, immune system-associated cells, barrier-forming cells of the perineurium surrounding and protecting nerve fascicles, and connective tissue-resident cells within the intra-fascicular endoneurium and inter-fascicular epineurium. We have established transcriptional profiles of mouse sciatic nerve-inhabitant cells to foster the fundamental understanding of peripheral nerves. To achieve this goal, we have combined bulk RNA sequencing of developing sciatic nerves up to the adult with focused bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing of Schwann cells throughout postnatal development, extended by single-cell transcriptome analysis of the full sciatic nerve both perinatally and in the adult. The results were merged in the transcriptome resource Sciatic Nerve ATlas (SNAT: https://www.snat.ethz.ch ). We anticipate that insights gained from our multi-layered analysis will serve as valuable interactive reference point to guide future studies.

Transcriptional profiling of mouse peripheral nerves to the single-cell level to build a sciatic nerve ATlas (SNAT)