Lineage Analysis and Molecular Characterization of Bergmann Glia-like Progenitors in the Postnatal Mouse Cerebellum using in vivo Electroporation and Spatial Transcriptomics

Abstract

Astroglial cell diversity is essential for proper brain development and function in mammals. In mammalian cerebellum, three types of astroglial cells -Bergmann glial cells (BGs), inner granule cell layer (IGL) astrocytes, and white matter (WM) astrocytes- arise in postnatal timing from two types of progenitors: Bergmann glia-like progenitors (BGLPs) and astrocyte-like progenitors (AsLPs). While BGLPs are known to differentiate into BGs and IGL astrocytes in postnatal day 6 (P6) mice, their fate immediately after birth remains unclear due to technical challenges in specifically labeling BGLPs. In this study, we demonstrated that both BGLPs and AsLPs gradually decrease from P0 to P10. Using in vivo electroporation to label BGLPs, we found that BGLPs in P0 mice differentiate not only into BGs, IGL astrocytes but also WM astrocytes. Using spatial transcriptomics analysis (Xenium, 5k),we achieved the isolation and comparative profiling of BGLP clusters from P0 and P6 mice. This analysis revealed that P0 BGLPs exhibit more stem cell-like features, while P6 BGLPs show a shift toward BG-like characteristics. These findings indicate that BGLPs immediately after birth possess higher pluripotency than previously recognized.