Abstract
Although the physiological function of the omentum remains elusive, it has been proposed that it plays an important role in fat storage, immune regulation, and regeneration of injured tissues and organs. Although the omentum undergoes expansion upon activation, reports on the accurate assessment of increased cell types and the origin of the increased cells remain limited. To investigate this aspect, the omenta of parabiotic mice were subjected to activation using distinct fluorescent markers and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was performed to identify circulation-derived omental cells. We found that a considerable number of circulating cells contributed to the activation of the omentum. The omental cells derived from circulating cells exhibited morphological features similar to those of fibroblasts. scRNA-seq revealed the existence of a novel cell population that co-expressed macrophage and fibroblast markers in the activated omentum, suggesting that it corresponded to circulating macrophage-derived fibroblast-like cells. Lineage tracing experiments revealed that most fibroblasts in the activated omentum were not derived from WT1-positive mesenchymal progenitors. The cell cluster also expressed various chemokine genes, indicating its role in the activation and recruitment of immune cells. These results provide important information regarding the activation of the omentum.
Highlights
The physiological function of the omentum remains elusive, it has been proposed that it plays an important role in fat storage, immune regulation, and regeneration of injured tissues and organs
Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis was performed on omental cells of polyacrylamide bead-injected mice, and the proportion of at least two groups of cells, namely myeloid-derived immune cells and cells indistinguishable from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), was found to increase in the activated omenta[4]
Intraperitoneal injection of polyacrylamide beads reportedly activates and expands the omentum[3,4], and macrophages predominantly increase in number[3]
Summary
The physiological function of the omentum remains elusive, it has been proposed that it plays an important role in fat storage, immune regulation, and regeneration of injured tissues and organs. The omentum undergoes expansion upon activation, reports on the accurate assessment of increased cell types and the origin of the increased cells remain limited To investigate this aspect, the omenta of parabiotic mice were subjected to activation using distinct fluorescent markers and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) was performed to identify circulation-derived omental cells. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis was performed on omental cells of polyacrylamide bead-injected mice, and the proportion of at least two groups of cells, namely myeloid-derived immune cells and cells indistinguishable from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), was found to increase in the activated omenta[4]. ScRNA-seq is one of the most powerful methods used to accurately assess the composition of the cell population of interest at the single-cell level, and various algorithms have been developed for different experimental purposes[7]
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