Extended Data Fig. 11: VSN subpopulations specify response patterns.
From: A multidimensional coding architecture of the vagal interoceptive system
a, b, GCaMP responses to lung stretch (a) and quantification of activation kinetics (b) in A/C-VSNs (n = 50) and K/L-VSNs (n = 39) from 5 mice. c, GCaMP responses with activation frame (arrow) aligned showing C-VSNs (n = 34) and A-VSNs (n = 16) have different adaptation rates to lung stretch. d, Quantification of adaptation kinetics as shown in (c). e, Percentage of UPB-labelled VSNs from indicated gastrointestinal organs/regions expressing Slit2 (left) and Grm5 (right) in Projection-seq data. f, g, GCaMP responses to oesophagus/stomach stretch (600 μl) (f) and quantification (g) in Slit2+ C- (n = 41), Slit2- C- (n = 53), H/J- (n = 52), and I- (n = 15) VSN subpopulations from 6 mice. Slit2+ C-VSNs were activated significantly faster with lower activation threshold, consistent with them being mechano-sensors in the oesophagus. h–j, GCaMP responses (h) to intestine stretch (saline, 600 μl, arrow) and quantification of response magnitudes (i) and activation kinetics (j) in H- (n = 14), G- (n = 20), and I- (n = 12) VSN subpopulations from 5 mice. k, Comprehensive UMAP plot of VSNs from integration of Projection-seq, vCatFISH, and Projection-seq-guided anterograde tracing analyses. VSN subpopulations (A-L) are colour-coded as in Fig. 1b. Organs are indicated by coloured lines. Ending structures are indicated using italic. Sensory properties are labelled in bold. Dashed arrow indicates a continuous representation of gut organs along the gastrointestinal tract. Arrow indicates a potential gradual shift of sensory inputs from chemical to mechanical sensation in the intestine. Some VSN clusters with similar characteristics are indicated by dashed lines. Imaging frequency: 1.72 second/frame. mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, two-tailed t-test for (b), one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple comparisons test for (d, g, i, j). P values for shown comparisons from left to right are as follows: b, 0.002, 0.3057, 0.0017, 0.0492, 0.2255; d, 0.043, 0.015, 0.021; g, 4.1 × 10−6, 4.6 × 10−7, 1.7 × 10−4, 0.01084, 0.00570, 1.3 × 10−4, 2.3 × 10−6, 0.0004, 1.3 × 10−6, 3.0 × 10−5, 0.0363; i, 0.1623, 0.9692, 0.2918; j, 0.6378, 0.8140, 0.9766, 5.2 × 10−5, 0.0159.
