DPA and MTN neurons were labeled with 1,1'-Dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI) from the maxillary first molars of C57BL/6  mouse, then isolated in acute culture from the TG tissues and from brainstem slices, respectively. Afterwards, they were manually collected using a glass micropipette containing RNase inhibitor; each neuron was also photographed prior to collection, and the images were used for cell body area (μm2) measurements using ImageJ software. Neurons were individually digested and reverse-transcribed into non-stranded cDNA using poly-T primers. The resulting cDNA was amplified using SMART-Seq v4 Ultra Low Input RNA kit according to the manufacturer'