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. 2023 Jun 1;164(6):1245-1257.
doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000002831. Epub 2023 Jan 25.

Molecular taxonomy of nociceptors and pruriceptors

Jussi Kupari  1 , Patrik Ernfors
Affiliations

Molecular taxonomy of nociceptors and pruriceptors

Jussi Kupari et al. Pain. .
No abstract available

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Molecular and functional taxonomy of mouse dorsal root ganglion sensory neuron types. Molecular types and hierarchical relationship are based on highly variable genes in mouse scRNA-seq data. The classification is based on Usoskin et al. (2015), Zeisel et al. (2018), and Sharma et al. (2020), and the nomenclature which follows Emery and Ernfors (2020) is indicated at the end branch of the hierarchical tree. The first or top box represents a conflation of hierarchically related neuron types with information summarizing fiber type (C, Aδ, and Aβ), modalities of sensation evidenced by functional experimentation or predicted based on expression (M, mechanical; H, heat; HTMR, high-threshold mechanoreceptor; LTMR, low-threshold mechanoreceptor). Boxes from top to bottom: neuron type, major sensory transduction genes expressed, percentage of representation among all DRG neurons, innervation targets, examples of marker genes, and finally function of the neurons. Question mark indicates prediction based on expression. Note that the hierarchical relationship largely reflect ontogeny which is outlined in the hierarchical tree as examples of transcription factors and receptors. The neurogenic transcription factor Neurogenin-2 (Ngn2) drives early neurogenesis generating Aδ nociceptor, Aβ LTMR, and proprioceptor neuron types which diversify through transcriptional activation, repression, and signaling through Trk and Ret receptors. Neurogenin-1 is responsible for neurogenesis of later born neurons defined by Runx1, Prdm12, and TrkA signaling which diversify into mostly unmyelinated nociceptive and pruriceptive neurons. Nppb, natriuretic peptide precursor B; scRNA-seq, single-cell RNA sequencing; Sst, somatostatin.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Schematic overview of the corresponding dorsal root ganglion neuron types between mouse and macaque data sets and “Usoskin,” “Zeisel,” “Sharma,” and “Kupari and Usoskin” nomenclatures. LTMR, low-threshold mechanoreceptor. NA, not available.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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