The emergence of single cell technologies provides the opportunity to characterize complex immune/central nervous system cell assemblies in multiple sclerosis (MS) and to study their cell population structures, network activation and dynamics at unprecedented depths. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge of astrocyte subpopulations in MS tissue and discuss the challenges associated with resolving astrocyte heterogeneity with single-nucleus RNA-sequencing (snRNA-seq). We further discuss multiplexed imaging techniques as tools for defining population clusters within a spatial context. Finally, we will provide an outlook on how these technologies may aid in answering unresolved questions in MS, such as the glial phenotypes that drive MS progression and/or neuropathological differences between different clinical MS subtypes.

中文翻译：

---

多发性硬化症中的星形胶质细胞异质性：目前的理解和技术挑战。

单细胞技术的出现为表征多发性硬化症 (MS) 中复杂的免疫/中枢神经系统细胞组装提供了机会，并以前所未有的深度研究它们的细胞群结构、网络激活和动力学。在这篇综述中，我们总结了 MS 组织中星形胶质细胞亚群的当前知识，并讨论了与用单核 RNA 测序 (snRNA-seq) 解决星形胶质细胞异质性相关的挑战。我们进一步讨论了多重成像技术作为在空间环境中定义人口集群的工具。最后，我们将展望这些技术如何帮助回答 MS 中未解决的问题，例如驱动 MS 进展的神经胶质表型和/或不同临床 MS 亚型之间的神经病理学差异。