Neural Circuits and Brainstem Control of Lower Urinary Tract Function
project - identifying SPINAL CORD neuronal populations INVOLVED IN LOWER URINARY TRACT FUNCTION
- in progress -
>> This application aims to reveal neurons and other cells in the lumbosacral spinal cord that play functional roles in controlling the lower urinary tract. <<
- Funding and collaboration on this project: NIH-NIDDK DK125708 (Verstegen), NIH-NIDDK RDK142807A (Verstegen), SNSF P500PB_206880 (Sartori), and AUA Urology Care Foundation Research Scholar award to 1449517 (Sartori).
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Schematics below:
Crossing the TRAP2 mouse line to the H2B-Trap line allows for nuclear labeling following strong neuronal activation.
Technique for labeling neurons that are activated during lower urinary tract function.
Useful references on the spinal cord and RNA sequencing:
1) Fiederling et al., 2021 - Tools for efficient analysis of neurons in a 3D reference atlas of whole mouse spinal cord (PMCID: PMC8516137).
2) Alkalasi et al., 2021 - Single nucleus RNA-sequencing defines unexpected diversity of cholinergic neuron types in the adult mouse spinal cord (PMCID: PMC8087807)
3) Sahyamurthy et al., 2018 - Massively Parallel Single Nucleus Transcriptional Profiling Defines Spinal Cord Neurons and Their Activity during Behavior (PMCID: PMC5849084)
In collaboration with:
Other exciting news:
Dr. Sartori wins 2025 Urology Care Foundation Research Scholar Award
“To investigate which neuron types are evolutionarily conserved between mice and human - to facilitate the identification of novel therapeutic targets. With this prestigious award of the American Urology Association, we will aim to characterize the cell types in the human sacral spinal cord, focusing on the neurons involved in lower urinary tract function. “