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Updated: Nov 20, 2025
Isolation of Endothelial Cells from the Lumen of Mouse Carotid Arteries for Single-Cell Multi-Omics Experiments
Published on: October 4, 2021
Single-Cell RNA Sequencing Reveals Heterogeneity of Vascular Cells in Early Stage Murine Abdominal Aortic
Huan Yang1, Ting Zhou1, Amelia Stranz1
1Department of Surgery (H.Y., T.Z., A.S., E.D., B.L.), School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison.
Objective:
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a life-threatening vascular disease characterized by smooth muscle cell depletion, ECM (extracellular matrix) degradation, and infiltration of immune cells. The cellular and molecular profiles that govern the heterogeneity of the AAA aorta are yet to be elucidated. Approach and Results: We performed single-cell RNA sequencing on mouse AAA tissues. AAA was induced in C57BL/6J mice by perivascular application of CaCl2. Unbiased clustering identified 12 distinct populations of 8 cell types. Percentages of each population and gene expression were compared between sham and AAA tissue. Furthermore, we characterized the transcriptional profiles and potential functional features of populations in smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, and macrophages and revealed the unique regulons in each cell type.
Conclusions:
Together, these data provide high-resolution insight into the complexity and heterogeneity of mouse AAA and indicate that populations within major cell types such as smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, and macrophages may contribute differently to AAA pathogenesis. Graphic Abstract: A graphic abstract is available for this article.
