Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is an exciting new technology allowing the analysis of transcriptomes from individual cells, and is ideally suited to address the inherent complexity and dynamics of the central nervous system. scRNA-seq has already been applied to the study of molecular taxonomy of the brain. These works have paved the way to expanding our understanding of the nervous system and provide insights into cellular susceptibilities and molecular mechanisms in neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. We discuss recent progress and challenges in applying this technology to advance our understanding of the brain. We advocate the application of scRNA-seq in the discovery of targets and biomarkers as a new approach in developing novel therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

单细胞RNA测序（scRNA-seq）是一项令人兴奋的新技术，可以分析单个细胞的转录组，非常适合解决中枢神经系统固有的复杂性和动态问题。scRNA-seq已被应用于大脑的分子分类学研究。这些工作为扩大我们对神经系统的理解铺平了道路，并为了解神经系统疾病和神经退行性疾病的细胞敏感性和分子机制提供了见识。我们讨论了应用此技术来增进对大脑的了解的最新进展和挑战。我们提倡在靶标和生物标志物的发现中应用scRNA-seq作为开发神经退行性疾病的新疗法的新方法。