Single Cell Transcriptomic and Chromatin Profiles Suggest Layer Vb Is the Only Layer With Shared Excitatory Cell Types in the Medial and Lateral Entorhinal Cortex

All brain functionality arises from the activity in neural circuits in different anatomical regions. These regions contain different circuits comprising unique cell types. An integral part to understanding neural circuits is a full census of the constituent parts, i.e., the neural cell types. This census can be based on different characteristics. Previously combinations of morphology and physiology, gene expression, and chromatin accessibility have been used in various cortical and subcortical regions. This has given an extensive yet incomplete overview of neural cell types. However, these techniques have not been applied to all brain regions. Here we apply single cell analysis of accessible chromatin on two similar but different cortical regions, the medial and the lateral entorhinal cortices. Even though these two regions are anatomically similar, their intrinsic and extrinsic connectivity are different. In 4,136 cells we identify 20 different clusters representing different cell types. As expected, excitatory cells show regionally specific clusters, whereas inhibitory neurons are shared between regions. We find that several deep layer excitatory neuronal cell types as defined by chromatin profile are also shared between the two different regions. Integration with a larger scRNA-seq dataset maintains this shared characteristic for cells in Layer Vb. Interestingly, this layer contains three clusters, two specific to either subregion and one shared between the two. These clusters can be putatively associated with particular functional and anatomical cell types found in this layer. This information is a step forwards into elucidating the cell types within the entorhinal circuit and by extension its functional underpinnings.