Fibro-adipogenic progenitors (FAPs) are muscle-resident mesenchymal progenitors that can contribute to muscle tissue homeostasis and regeneration, as well as postnatal maturation and lifelong maintenance of the neuromuscular system. Recently, traumatic injury to the peripheral nerve was shown to activate FAPs, suggesting that FAPs can respond to nerve injury. However, questions of how FAPs can sense the anatomically distant peripheral nerve injury and whether FAPs can directly contribute to nerve regeneration remained unanswered. Here, utilizing single-cell transcriptomics and mouse models, we discovered that a subset of FAPs expressing GDNF receptors Ret and Gfra1 can respond to peripheral nerve injury by sensing GDNF secreted by Schwann cells. Upon GDNF sensing, this subset becomes activated and expresses Bdnf. FAP-specific inactivation of Bdnf (Prrx1^Cre; Bdnf^fl/fl) resulted in delayed nerve regeneration owing to defective remyelination, indicating that GDNF-sensing FAPs play an important role in the remyelination process during peripheral nerve regeneration. In aged mice, significantly reduced Bdnf expression in FAPs was observed upon nerve injury, suggesting the clinical relevance of FAP-derived BDNF in the age-related delays in nerve regeneration. Collectively, our study revealed the previously unidentified role of FAPs in peripheral nerve regeneration, and the molecular mechanism behind FAPs’ response to peripheral nerve injury.

Aphantasia refers to reduced or absent visual imagery. While most of us can readily recall decade-old personal experiences (autobiographical memories, AM) with vivid mental images, there is a dearth of information about whether the loss of visual imagery in aphantasics affects their AM retrieval. The hippocampus is thought to be a crucial hub in a brain-wide network underlying AM. One important question is whether this network, especially the connectivity of the hippocampus, is altered in aphantasia. In the current study, we tested 14 congenital aphantasics and 16 demographically matched controls in an AM fMRI task to investigate how key brain regions (i.e. hippocampus and visual-perceptual cortices) interact with each other during AM re-experiencing. All participants were interviewed regarding their autobiographical memory to examine their episodic and semantic recall of specific events. Aphantasics reported more difficulties in recalling AM, were less confident about their memories, and described less internal and emotional details than controls. Neurally, aphantasics displayed decreased hippocampal and increased visual-perceptual cortex activation during AM retrieval compared to controls. In addition, controls showed strong negative functional connectivity between the hippocampus and the visual cortex during AM and resting-state functional connectivity between these two brain structures predicted better visualization skills. Our results indicate that visual mental imagery plays an important role in detail-rich vivid AM, and that this type of cognitive function is supported by the functional connection between the hippocampus and the visual-perceptual cortex.