Publications

Mayank Gautam, Akihiro Yamada, Ayaka Yamada, Qinxue Wu, Kim Krisada, Jennifer Ling, Huasheng Yu, Peter Dong, Minghong Ma, Jianguo Gu, and Wenqin Luo: Distinct Local and Global Functions of Mouse Aβ Low-Threshold Mechanoreceptors in Mechanical Nociception. Nature Communications, To Be Published.

Huasheng Yu, Jingwei Xiong, Adam Yongxin Ye, Suna Li Cranfill, Tariq Cannonier, Mayank Gautam, Marina Zhang, Rayan Bilal, Jong-Eun Park, Yuji Xue, Vidhur Polam, Nour Mimouni, Alejandra Lozada, Medhini Sosale, Alex Ahn, Minghong Ma, Long Ding, Javier Arsuaga, and Wenqin Luo: Scratch-AID, a deep learning-based system for automatic detection of mouse scratching behavior with high accuracy. eLife, December 2022. 

Emma Janke, Marina Zhang, Sang Eun Ryu, Janardhan P Bhattarai, Mary R Schreck, Andrew H Moberly, Wenqin Luo, Long Ding, Daniel W Wesson, and Minghong Ma: Machine learning-based clustering and classification of mouse behaviors via respiratory patterns. iScience, December 2022.

Huasheng Yu, Suna L. Cranfill, and Wenqin Luo: ErbB4+ spinal cord dorsal horn neurons process heat pain. Neuron, July 2022.

Ishmail Abdus-Saboor and Wenqin Luo: Measuring Mouse Somatosensory Reflexive Behaviors with High-speed Videography, Statistical Modeling, and Machine Learning. Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Pain: from Molecules to Neural Networks, Rebecca Seal (eds.). Springer Nature, June 2022.

Suna L. Cranfill and Wenqin Luo: Nerve regrowth can be painful. Nature News & Views, May 2022. 

Lian Cui, Jeff Guo*, Suna L. Cranfill*, Mayank Gautam, Janardhan Bhattarai, William Olson, Katherine Beattie, Rosemary C. Challis, Qinxue Wu, Xue Song, Tobias Raabe, Viviana Gradinaru, Minghong Ma, Qin Liu, and Wenqin Luo: Glutamate in primary afferents is required for itch transmission. Neuron, January 2022. 

Yun-Feng Zhang, Luigim Vargas Cifuentes*, Katherine N. Wright*, Janardhan P. Bhattarai*, Julia Mohrhardt*, David Fleck*, Emma Janke, Chunjie Jiang, Suna L. Cranfill, Nitsan Goldstein, Mary Schreck, Andrew H. Moberly, Yiqun Yu, Benjamin R. Arenkiel, J. Nicholas Betley, Wenqin Luo, Johannes Stegmaier, Daniel W. Wesson, Marc Spehr, Marc V. Fuccillo, and Minghong Ma: Ventral striatal Islands of Calleja neurons control grooming in mice. Nature Neuroscience, November 2021.

Katherine Beattie, Haowu Jiang, Mayank Gautam, Mary K. MacVittie, Barbara Miller, Minghong Ma, Qin Liu, and Wenqin Luo: TRPC3 antagonizes pruritus in a mouse contact dermatitis model. Journal of Investigative Dermatology, September 2021.

Sixia Huang, Paola Kuri, Yann Aubert, Megan Brewster, Ning Li, Olivia Farrelly, Gabriella Rice, Hyunjin Bae, Stephen Prouty, Tzvete Dentchev, Wenqin Luo, Brian C. Capell, and Panteleimon Rompolas: Lgr6 marks epidermal stem cells with a nerve-dependent role in wound re-epithelialization. Cell Stem Cell, September 2021.

Suna L. Cranfill and Wenqin Luo: The development of somatosensory neurons: Insights into pain and itch. Current Topics in Developmental Biology 142, 443-475, March 2021. 

Fengxian Li, Haowu Jiang, Xiaolei Shen, Weishan Yang, Changxiong Guo, Zhiyao Wang, Maolei Xiao, Lian Cui, Wenqin Luo, Brian S. Kim, Zhoufeng Chen, Andrew J.W. Huang, and Qin Liu: Sneezing reflex is mediated by a peptidergic pathway from nose to brainstem. Cell, July 2021.

Huasheng Yu, Kirk Wangensteen, Tong Deng, Yulong Li, and Wenqin Luo: MRGPRX4 in Cholestatic Pruritus. Seminars in Liver Disease June 2021.

Huasheng Yu, Tianjun Zhao, Simin Liu, Qinxue Wu, Omar Johnson, Zhaofa Wu, Zihao Zhuang, Yaocheng Shi, Luxin Peng, Renxi He, Yong Yang, Jianjun Sun, Xiaoqun Wang, Haifeng Xu, Zheng Zeng, Peng Zou, Xiaoguang Lei, Wenqin Luo*, and Yulong Li*: MRGPRX4 is a bile acid receptor for human cholestatic itch. eLife 8:e48431, September 2019. 

Ishmail Abdus-Saboor*, Nathan T. Fried*, Mark Lay, Justin Burdge, Kathryn Swanson, Roman Fischer, Jessica Jones, Peter Dong, Weihua Cai, Xinying Guo, Yuan-Xiang Tao, John Bethea, Minghong Ma, Xinzhong Dong, Long Ding, and Wenqin Luo: Development of a mouse pain scale using sub-second behavioral mapping and statistical modeling. Cell Reports 28(6):1623-34, August 2019. 

Arthi Prabhakar, Dragan Vujovic, Lian Cui, William Olson, and Wenqin Luo: Leaky expression of channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) in Ai32 mouse lines. PLoS One 14(3):e0213326, March 2019. 

Changming Wang, Leying Gu, Yonglan Ruan, Xiao Geng, Miao Xu, Niuniu Yang, Lei Yu, Yucui Jiang, Chan Zhu, Yan Yang, Yuan Zhou, Xiaowei Guan, Wenqin Luo, Xinzhong Dong, Guan Yu, Lei Lan, and Zongxiang Tang: Facilitation of MrgprD by TRP-A1 promotes neuropathic pain. The FASEB Journal 33(1):1360–73, January 2019. 

William Olson and Wenqin Luo: Somatotopic organization of central arbors from nociceptive afferents develops independently of their intact peripheral target innervation. The Journal of Comparative Neurology 526(18):3058–65, December 2018. 

Kim Kridsada*, Jingwen Niu*, Parthiv Haldipur, Zhiping Wang, Long Ding, Jian J. Li, Anne G. Lindgren, Eloisa Herrera, Gareth M. Thomas, Victor V. Chizhikov, Kathleen J. Millen, and Wenqin Luo: Roof plate-derived radial glial-like cells support developmental growth of rapidly adapting mechanoreceptor ascending axons. Cell Reports 23(10):2928–41, June 2018. 

Andrew Moberly, Mary Schreck, Janardhan P. Bhattarai, Larry S. Zweifel, Wenqin Luo, and Minghong Ma: Olfactory inputs modulate respiration-related rhythmic activity in the prefrontal cortex and freezing behavior. Nature Communications 9:1528, April 2018. 

Ishmail Abdus-Saboor*, Nathan T. Fried*, Mark Lay, Peter Dong, Justin Burdge, Ming Lu, Minghong Ma, Xinzhong Dong, Long Ding, and Wenqin Luo: High-speed imaging of paw withdrawal reflex to objectively assess pain state in mice. bioRxiv (preprint), February 2018. 

Nadia Parmhans, Szilard Sajgo, Jingwen Niu, Wenqin Luo, and Tudor C. Barea: Characterization of retinal ganglion cell, horizontal cell, and amacrine cell types expressing the neurotrophic receptor tyrosine kinase Ret. The Journal of Comparative Neurology 526(4):742–66, March 2018. 

William Olson, Ishmail Abdus-Saboor*, Lian Cui*, Justin Burdge, Tobias Raabe, Minghong Ma, and Wenqin Luo: Sparse genetic tracing reveals regionally specific functional organization of mammalian nociceptors. eLife 6:e29507, October 2017. 

Peter Dong, Changxiong Guo, Shengxiang Huang, Minghong Ma, Qin Liu and Wenqin Luo: TRPC3 is dispensable for β-alanine triggered acute itch. Scientific Reports 7:13869, October 2017. 

Yiqun Yu, Andrew H. Moberly, Janardhan P. Bhattarai, Chen Duan, Qian Zheng, Fangqi Li, Hugh Huang, William Olson, Wenqin Luo, Tieqiao Wen, Hongmeng Yu, and Minghong Ma: The stem cell marker Lgr5 defines a subset of postmitotic neurons in the olfactory bulb. The Journal of Neuroscience 37(39):9403–14, September 2017. 

Michael S. Fleming, Jian J. Li, Daniel Ramos, Tong Li, David A. Talmage, Shin-ichi Abe, Silvia Arber and Wenqin Luo: A RET-ER81-NRG1 signaling pathway drives the development of Pacinian corpuscles. The Journal of Neuroscience 36(40):10337–55, October 2016. 

Lian Cui*, Xuerong Miao*, Lingli Liang, Ishmail Abdus-Saboor, William Olson, Michael S. Fleming, Minghong Ma, Yuanxiang Tao, and Wenqin Luo: Idenfication of early RET+ deep dorsal horn spinal cord interneurons in gating pain. Neuron 91(5):1137–53, September 2016. 

William Olson, Peter Dong, Michael Fleming, and Wenqin Luo: The specification and wiring of mammalian cutaneous low-threshold mechanoreceptors. WIREs Developmental Biology 5(3):389–404, May 2016. 

Cheng-Chiu Huang, Yu Shin Kim, William P. Olson, Fengxian Li, Changxiong Guo, Wenqin Luo, Andrew J. W. Huang, and Qin Liu: A histamine-independent itch pathway is required for allergic ocular itch. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology 137(4):1267–70, April 2016. 

Michael S. Fleming*, Anna Vysochan*, Sónia Paixão, Jingwen Niu, Rüdiger Klein, Joseph M. Savitt, and Wenqin Luo: Cis and trans RET signaling control the survival and central projection growth of rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors. eLife 4:e06828, April 2015. 

Jingwen Niu*, Anna Vysochan*, and Wenqin Luo: Dual innervation of neonatal Merkel cells in mouse touch domes. PLoS ONE 9(3):e92027, March 2014. 

Sónia Paixão, Aarathi Balijepalli, Najet Serradj, Jingwen Niu, Wenqin Luo, John H. Martin, and Rüdiger Klein: EphrinB3/EphA4-mediated guidance of ascending and descending spinal tracts. Neuron 80(6):1407–20, December 2013. 

Jingwen Niu, Long Ding, Jian J. Li, Hyukmin Kim, Jiakun Liu, Haipeng Li, Andrew Moberly, Tudor C. Badea, Ian D. Duncan, Young-Jin Son, Steven S. Scherer, and Wenqin Luo: Modality-based organization of ascending somatosensory axons in the direct dorsal column pathway. The Journal of Neuroscience 33(45):17691–709, November 2013. 

Michael S. Fleming and Wenqin Luo: The anatomy, function, and development of mammalian Aβ low-threshold mechanoreceptors. Frontiers in Biology 8(4):408–20, August 2013. 

Michael S. Fleming, Daniel Ramos, Seung Baek Han, Jianyuan Zhao, Young-Jin Son, and Wenqin Luo: The majority of dorsal spinal cord gastrin releasing peptide is synthesized locally whereas neuromedin B is highly expressed in pain- and itch-sensing somatosensory neurons. Molecular Pain 8:52, July 2012.

Lishi Li*, Michael Rutlin*, Victoria E. Abraira, Colleen Cassidy, Laura Kus, Shiaoching Gong, Michael P. Jankowski, Wenqin Luo, Nathaniel Heintz, Richard Koerber, C. Jeffrey Woodbury, and David D. Ginty: The functional organization of cutaneous low-threshold mechanosensory neurons. Cell 147(7):1615–27, December 2011. 

Wenqin Luo, Hideki Enomoto, Frank L. Rice, Jeffrey Milbrandt, and David D. Ginty: Molecular identification of rapidly adapting mechanoreceptors and their developmental dependence on Ret signaling. Neuron 64(6):841–56, December 2009. 

Wenqin Luo, S. Rasika Wickramasinghe, Joseph M. Savitt, John W. Griffin, Ted M. Dawson, and David D. Ginty: A hierarchical NGF signaling cascade controls Ret-dependent and Ret-independent events during development of non-peptidergic DRG neurons. Neuron 54(5):739–54, June 2007. 

Wenqin Luo, John Williams, Philip M. Smallwood, Jeffrey W. Touchman, Laura M. Roman LM, and Jeremy Nathans: Proximal and distal sequences control UV cone pigment gene expression in transgenic zebrafish. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 279(18):19286–93, April 2004. 

Wenqin Luo, Nicholas Marsh-Armstrong, Amir Rattner, and Jeremy Nathans: An outer segment localization signal at the C terminus of the photoreceptor-specific retinol dehydrogenase. The Journal of Neuroscience 24(11):2623–32, March 2004. 

*Equal contribution.