(10/10) We would also like to thank @lcolladotor.bsky.social, Ryan Miller, and @nick-eagles.bsky.social. Please check out VisiumStitcher, doi:10.1186/s12864-024-10991-y, which facilitates integration of gene expression and images across multiple capture areas for a specific donor, as in our data.
(9/10) Thank you to @lieberinstitute.bsky.social, NIDA, and all our collaborators who made this work possible. 🧑🔬 #NAcLIBD @svitlana-bach.bsky.social, @rphillips3.bsky.social, @alexisbattle.bsky.social, @martinowk.bsky.social, @stephaniehicks.bsky.social, @kr-maynard.bsky.social
(8/10) It also provides a foundation for future higher-resolution investigation into NAc architecture, and serves as a key spatial atlas that can be integrated with functional data to better understand how the NAc mediates complex behaviors and risk for traits like substance dependence.
(7/10) Our work provides insights into how the structural organization of the human NAc shapes neuromodulatory signaling, opioid sensitivity, and links to neuropsychiatric risk.
(5/10) We illustrate the importance of spatial transcriptomics in understanding cell-cell communication, and identify spatial domains that express PENK, PDYN (ligands) and OPRM1 (receptor), and delineate the spatial distribution of their corresponding predicted sender and receiver cell types.
(4/10) We examine heterogeneity in D1 islands using complementary computational methods, such as matrix factorization and cell type deconvolution, as well as experimental techniques like RNAscope smFISH.
(3/10) Additionally, we show that human NAc organization is not simply divided into “core” and “shell,” but instead reflects continuous spatial gradients of MSN subtypes linked to genetic risk for psychiatric and addiction-related traits.
(2/10) We identify 20 transcriptionally distinct cell types, including 6 subtypes of medium spiny neurons (MSNs), and 8 spatial domains conserved across species, including distinct OPRM1-expressing D1-islands, corresponding to opioid hotspots previously described in rodents and non-human primates.
(1/10) We’re excited to share our new preprint (doi.org/10.1101/2025...), which uncovers the spatiomolecular landscape of the human nucleus accumbens (NAc), by integrating snRNA-seq with Visium spatial transcriptomics across 10 control donors. 🧠 #NAcLIBD #snRNAseq #10xVisium
