However, the individual brain regions contain a diversity of cell types that may bear unique transcriptional signatures that cannot be detected in bulk RNA sequencing data even with computational deconvolution techniques. Single-cell/single-nucleus RNA sequencing has enabled measurement of the distribution and characterization of different cell types in a tissue sample and of gene expression in each of these individual cells. An early single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) study examined gene expression in nuclei from the prefrontal cortex of individuals with and without AUD.24 Despite a small sample size (7 individuals), they identified seven major cortical cell types and found differences in expression associated with AUD within six cell types, particularly in astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia, some in neuroinflammation-related genes.
