Figure 2.

Methodologies for charaterizing OPC transcriptomics and heterogeneity. OPCs can be isolated from whole brain or spinal cord tissue. Manual dissection of different regions of the brain or spinal cord allows for anatomical comparisons. OPCs can be enriched and isolated from tissues via FACS (Fluorescence-activated cell sorting) or magnetic activated cell sorted (MACS, magnetic-activated cell sorting), based on expression of OPC-specific cell-surface markers, such as NG2 or PDGFRα. These sorted OPCs can then be processed and sequenced in bulk (bulk RNA-seq), or can be sequenced as single cells (scRNA-seq), yielding information on OPC heterogeneity and diversity. Alternatively, sequencing may be performed in situ on tissue sections [sc spatial RNA-seq or in situ sequencing (ISS)], producing single-cell transcriptomic data in a spatial context, and potentially mapping OPC heterogeneity to distinct anatomical regions.