Mapping molecular datasets back to the brain regions they are extracted from: Remembering the native countries of hypothalamic expatriates and refugees
Abstract
This article, which includes novel unpublished data along with commentary and analysis,focuses on approaches to link transcriptomic, proteomic, and peptidomic datasets mined frombrain tissue to the original locations within the brain that they are derived from using digital atlasmapping techniques. We use, as an example, the transcriptomic, proteomic and peptidomicanalyses conducted in the mammalian hypothalamus. Following a brief historical overview, wehighlight studies that have mined biochemical and molecular information from the hypothalamusand then lay out a strategy for how these data can be linked spatially to the mapped locations in acanonical brain atlas where the data come from, thereby allowing researchers to integrate thesedata with other datasets across multiple scales. A key methodology that enables atlas-basedmapping of extracted datasets – laser capture microdissection – is discussed in detail, with a viewof how this technology is a bridge between systems biology and systems neuroscience.