Neuronal heterogeneity and stereotyped connectivity in the auditory afferent system

Charles Petitpré, Haohao Wu, Anil Sharma, Anna Tokarska, Paula Fontanet, Yiqiao Wang, Françoise Helmbacher, Kevin Yackle, Gilad Silberberg, Saida Hadjab and François Lallemend ()
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Charles Petitpré: Karolinska Institutet, Biomedicum
Haohao Wu: Karolinska Institutet, Biomedicum
Anil Sharma: Karolinska Institutet, Biomedicum
Anna Tokarska: Karolinska Institutet, Biomedicum
Paula Fontanet: Karolinska Institutet, Biomedicum
Yiqiao Wang: Karolinska Institutet, Biomedicum
Françoise Helmbacher: Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS UMR7288, Institut de Biologie du Développement de Marseille (IBDM)
Kevin Yackle: University of California–San Francisco
Gilad Silberberg: Karolinska Institutet, Biomedicum
Saida Hadjab: Karolinska Institutet, Biomedicum
François Lallemend: Karolinska Institutet, Biomedicum

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Spiral ganglion (SG) neurons of the cochlea convey all auditory inputs to the brain, yet the cellular and molecular complexity necessary to decode the various acoustic features in the SG has remained unresolved. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we identify four types of SG neurons, including three novel subclasses of type I neurons and the type II neurons, and provide a comprehensive genetic framework that define their potential synaptic communication patterns. The connectivity patterns of the three subclasses of type I neurons with inner hair cells and their electrophysiological profiles suggest that they represent the intensity-coding properties of auditory afferents. Moreover, neuron type specification is already established at birth, indicating a neuronal diversification process independent of neuronal activity. Thus, this work provides a transcriptional catalog of neuron types in the cochlea, which serves as a valuable resource for dissecting cell-type-specific functions of dedicated afferents in auditory perception and in hearing disorders.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06033-3

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