Scientists Unveil Landmark Cellular Atlas of Brain's Basal Ganglia, Advancing Neurological Research
An international collaboration involving dozens of labs and hundreds of scientists across nine countries and over 50 institutions has unveiled the most detailed and comprehensive multi-species cellular atlas of the basal ganglia. This expansive library of brain cell types and datasets, spanning human, macaque, marmoset, and mouse brains, was published in a package of 26 studies in the Cell Press family of journals. Researchers utilized advanced single-cell molecular profiling technologies to measure the genetic expression of 25.5 million individual cells, including 21.0 million from humans. This effort represents the first major working model of a standardized, cross-species brain cell reference atlas. The basal ganglia, a set of structures deep within the brain, are crucial for movement, habit formation, decision-making, and emotion, and are implicated in conditions like Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and addiction. This atlas is also the first major output of ...
