Acute nicotine exposure produces a spatially organized transcriptional response in mouse olfactory cortex

A single intraperitoneal nicotine exposure in male mice produces a spatially organized transcriptional response in anterior olfactory cortex, centered on Cartpt+ Penk+ superficial pyramidal neurons.

• Why it matters: Bulk forebrain studies can’t resolve which cells respond to nicotine or how responding cells are arranged, limiting understanding of how nicotine reshapes sensory cue circuits.
• What they did: Male mice received one nicotine or saline injection, and coronal anterior olfactory cortex sections were profiled 24 h later with Visium HD, using nucleus-based segmentation to map differential expression.
• The result: Differential expression was concentrated in olfactory excitatory neurons, with calcium-handling, synapse-assembly and extracellular-matrix programs and a lasting reduction of Egr1, plus localized Sparcl1 reduction within one cell diameter of the responding neuronal population.

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