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Categorization of lung mesenchymal cells in development and fibrosis.

iScience (2021-06-22)
Xue Liu, Simon C Rowan, Jiurong Liang, Changfu Yao, Guanling Huang, Nan Deng, Ting Xie, Di Wu, Yizhou Wang, Ankita Burman, Tanyalak Parimon, Zea Borok, Peter Chen, William C Parks, Cory M Hogaboam, S Samuel Weigt, John Belperio, Barry R Stripp, Paul W Noble, Dianhua Jiang
ABSTRACT

Pulmonary mesenchymal cells are critical players in both the mouse and human during lung development and disease states. They are increasingly recognized as highly heterogeneous, but there is no consensus on subpopulations or discriminative markers for each subtype. We completed scRNA-seq analysis of mesenchymal cells from the embryonic, postnatal, adult and aged fibrotic lungs of mice and humans. We consistently identified and delineated the transcriptome of lipofibroblasts, myofibroblasts, smooth muscle cells, pericytes, mesothelial cells, and a novel population characterized by Ebf1 expression. Subtype selective transcription factors and putative divergence of the clusters during development were described. Comparative analysis revealed orthologous subpopulations with conserved transcriptomic signatures in murine and human lung mesenchymal cells. All mesenchymal subpopulations contributed to matrix gene expression in fibrosis. This analysis would enhance our understanding of mesenchymal cell heterogeneity in lung development, homeostasis and fibrotic disease conditions.

MATERIALS
Product Number
Brand
Product Description

Sigma-Aldrich
Oil Red O, certified by the Biological Stain Commission
Sigma-Aldrich
ITS+3 Liquid Media Supplement (100×), liquid, sterile-filtered, BioReagent, suitable for cell culture
Roche
Dispase® II (neutral protease, grade II), lyophilized, from bacterial, Roche, pkg of 5 × 1 g
Sigma-Aldrich
Rosiglitazone, ≥98% (HPLC)