IMR Press / FBL / Volume 29 / Issue 5 / DOI: 10.31083/j.fbl2905173
Open Access Original Research
Single-Cell Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Dynamic Populations of Vascular Cells in Neointimal Hyperplasia
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1 The Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, State Key Laboratory of Medical Genomics, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Hypertension, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Institute of Hypertension, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 200025 Shanghai, China
2 Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), 200031 Shanghai, China
*Correspondence: liqun@sibs.ac.cn (Qun Li)
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2024, 29(5), 173; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.fbl2905173
Submitted: 29 December 2023 | Revised: 18 February 2024 | Accepted: 13 March 2024 | Published: 6 May 2024
Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Abstract

Background: Neointimal hyperplasia (NIH) is the pathological basis of vascular injury disease. Vascular cells are the dominant cells in the process of NIH, but the extent of heterogeneity amongst them is still unclear. Methods: A mouse model of NIH was constructed by inducing carotid artery ligation. Single-cell sequencing was then used to analyze the transcriptional profile of vascular cells. Cluster features were determined by functional enrichment analysis, gene set scoring, pseudo-time analysis, and cell-cell communication analysis. Additionally, immunofluorescence staining was conducted on vascular tissues from fibroblast lineage-traced (PdgfraDreER-tdTomato) mice to validate the presence of Pecam1+Pdgfra+tdTomato+ cells. Results: The left carotid arteries (ligation) were compared to right carotid arteries (sham) from ligation-induced NIH C57BL/6 mice. Integrative analyses revealed a high level of heterogeneity amongst vascular cells, including fourteen clusters and seven cell types. We focused on three dominant cell types: endothelial cells (ECs), vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs), and fibroblasts. The major findings were: (1) four subpopulations of ECs, including ECs4, mesenchymal-like ECs (ECs1 and ECs2), and fibro-like ECs (ECs3); (2) four subpopulations of fibroblasts, including pro-inflammatory Fibs-1, Sca1+ Fibs-2, collagen-producing Fibs-3, and mesenchymal-like Fibs-4; (3) four subpopulations of vSMCs, including vSMCs-1, vSMCs-2, vSMCs-3, and vSMCs-3-derived vSMCs; (4) ECs3 express genes related to extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling and cell migration, and fibro-like vSMCs showed strong chemokine secretion and relatively high levels of proteases; (5) fibro-like vSMCs that secrete Vegfa interact with ECs mainly through vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (Vegfr2). Conclusions: This study presents the dynamic cellular landscape within NIH arteries and reveals potential relationships between several clusters, with a specific focus on ECs3 and fibro-like vSMCs. These two subpopulations may represent potential target cells for the treatment of NIH.

Keywords
neointimal hyperplasia
fibroblasts
endothelial cells
vascular smooth muscle cells
single-cell RNA sequencing
Funding
82070509/National Natural Science Foundation of China
SHSMU-ZDCX20212700/Innovative research team of high-level local universities in Shanghai
Figures
Fig. 1.
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