Glia Are Bussin': How Single-Cell and Spatial Transcriptomics Enlighten the Role of Neuroglia in Spinal Cord Injury and Regeneration

The impact that single-cell and spatial genomic technologies have had on the scientific community since their advent has been widespread and profound. The field of spinal cord injury (SCI) is one such area that has experienced an increased implementation of genomic technologies within recent years. Innovative genomic tools have proven to be particularly useful for delving into the progression of SCI pathology and plasticity that is highly dynamic, temporal, and involves the close coordination and signaling of many different central nervous system resident and non-resident cells. Neuroglia, in particular, have been extensively profiled, resulting in a deeper understanding of how neuroglia phenotypes and molecular signaling interact and progress after a spinal cord injury. In this review, we summarize some of the major discoveries that have enlightened and/or shifted our current understanding of the role of neuroglia in injury potentiation and repair. Additionally, through a meta-analysis of five SCI single-cell time course atlases, we uncover insights and cautions regarding how injury model, time course, sample preparation, cellular categorization, and analytical approach impact the interpretation of any new genomic research in this field.