Neuron releases cellular atlas of trigeminal ganglia, promising to reveal therapeutic targets for migraine

Migraine is the most common type of headache clinically, seriously affecting the patient's life, but most treatments can only provide partial relief

Recently, researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital mapped the cells of the human and mouse trigeminal ganglia, analyzing the genes expressed by each TG cell type at single-cell resolution

Dr William Renthal, of Brigham and Women's Hospital's Department of Neurology, said: "Despite significant efficacy in animal models, few pain treatments have reached the clinic, so our goal was to analyze human tissue in order to find new treatments for headache and facial pain.

"The trigeminal ganglion is a central region for migraine and facial pain, and now we have a detailed map of the genes expressed by each cell type

The researchers analyzed trigeminal ganglia from four human donors and also studied two mouse models of headache

"The main value of this study is that it is not limited to a particular cell type or branch of the trigeminal ganglia," said Dr.

"We took all the cells that make up the TG," he said

The map, now available online, contains information that may help people study the molecular mechanisms of different types of pain, such as toothache

Next, the researchers plan to sequence more human tissue to refine the existing map

"Now with this resource, everyone can go online and look up a gene of interest, discover where it's expressed and how it's regulated, and then use that information to inspire new experiments," Renthal said

Original text retrieval

Human and mouse trigeminal ganglia cell atlas implicates multiple cell types in migraine