Visualization of Individual Cell Division History in Complex Tissues

The study developed an inducible cell division counter (iCOUNT) to track cell division events in human and mouse tissues both in vitro and in vivo. This tool provided new insights into the behavior of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) in the brain by analyzing their division histories. Using single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) on iCOUNT-labelled NSPCs from mouse cortex and human organoids, the study identified molecular pathways regulated by cell division histories. iCOUNT enabled the characterization of molecular consequences of repeated stem cell divisions, aiding the understanding of tissue formation, homeostasis, and repair.