Cellular and circuit organization of the locus coeruleus of adult mice

  1. Andrew McKinney
  2. Ming Hu
  3. Amber Hoskins
  4. Arian Mohammadyar
  5. Nabeeha Naeem
  6. Junzhan Jing
  7. Saumil S Patel
  8. Bhavin R Sheth  Is a corresponding author
  9. Xiaolong Jiang  Is a corresponding author
  1. Baylor College of Medicine, United States
  2. University of Houston, United States

Abstract

The locus coeruleus (LC) houses the vast majority of noradrenergic neurons in the brain and regulates many fundamental functions including fight and flight response, attention control, and sleep/wake cycles. While efferent projections of the LC have been extensively investigated, little is known about its local circuit organization. Here, we performed large-scale multi-patch recordings of noradrenergic neurons in adult mouse LC to profile their morpho-electric properties while simultaneously examining their interactions. LC noradrenergic neurons are diverse and could be classified into two major morpho-electric types. While fast excitatory synaptic transmission among LC noradrenergic neurons was not observed in our preparation, these mature LC neurons connected via gap junction at a rate similar to their early developmental stage and comparable to other brain regions. Most electrical connections form between dendrites and are restricted to narrowly spaced pairs or small clusters of neurons of the same type. In addition, more than two electrically coupled cell pairs were often identified across a cohort of neurons from individual multi-cell recording sets that followed a chain-like organizational pattern. The assembly of LC noradrenergic neurons thus follows a spatial and cell type-specific wiring principle that may be imposed by a unique chain-like rule.

Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. The data and custom codes supporting the findings are being deposited in Dryad (doi:10.5061/dryad.kh1893283)

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Andrew McKinney

    Neuroscience Graduate Program, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Ming Hu

    Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Amber Hoskins

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Arian Mohammadyar

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Nabeeha Naeem

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Junzhan Jing

    Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-4647-0932
  7. Saumil S Patel

    Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Bhavin R Sheth

    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, United States
    For correspondence
    brsheth@uh.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Xiaolong Jiang

    Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
    For correspondence
    xiaolonj@bcm.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-8066-1383

Funding

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (P50HD103555)

  • Andrew McKinney
  • Ming Hu
  • Junzhan Jing
  • Xiaolong Jiang

National Eye Institute (T32 EY07001)

  • Andrew McKinney

National Institute of Mental Health (MH109556)

  • Ming Hu
  • Junzhan Jing
  • Xiaolong Jiang

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS101596)

  • Andrew McKinney
  • Ming Hu
  • Xiaolong Jiang

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Copyright

© 2023, McKinney et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Andrew McKinney
  2. Ming Hu
  3. Amber Hoskins
  4. Arian Mohammadyar
  5. Nabeeha Naeem
  6. Junzhan Jing
  7. Saumil S Patel
  8. Bhavin R Sheth
  9. Xiaolong Jiang
(2023)
Cellular and circuit organization of the locus coeruleus of adult mice
eLife 12:e80100.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80100

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.80100

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