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Updated: Aug 25, 2025
Characterization of Immune Cells and Proinflammatory Mediators in the Pulmonary Environment
Published on: June 24, 2020
Heterogeneity of T cells and macrophages in chlorine-induced acute lung injury in mice using single-cell RNA
Chen-Qian Zhao1, Jiang-Zheng Liu1, Meng-Meng Liu2
1Department of Toxicology, Shaanxi Key Lab of Free Radical Biology and Medicine, the Ministry of Education Key Lab of Hazard Assessment and Control in Special Operational Environment, School of Public Health, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Objective:
Chlorine (Cl2), as an asphyxiant toxicant, induced poisoning incidents and acute lung injury (ALI) occur frequently. The specific pathogenesis of Cl2-induced ALI remains unclear. Immune cells play an important role in the process of lung damage. We used single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) technology to explore T cells and macrophages molecular mechanism.
Methods:
Female BALB/c mice were exposed to 400 ppm Cl2 for 15 min. scRNA-seq technology was used to observe the heterogeneity of T cells and macrophages. Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining was used to evaluate the degree of lung injury. Immunofluorescence was used to verify the highly expressed genes of our interest.
Results:
A total of 5316 to 7742 cells were classified into eight different cell types. Several new highly expressed anti-inflammatory and pro-inflammatory genes were found in T cells and macrophages, which were further verified in vitro. Through the pseudotime analysis of macrophages, it was found that the expression of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory genes showed opposite trends in the development of Cl2-induced ALI. This study also mapped T cells-macrophage communication and identified the development of several important receptor-ligand complexes in Cl2-induced ALI.
Conclusions:
These findings are worthy of further exploration and provide new resources and directions for the study of Cl2-induced ALI in mice, especially in immune and inflammation mechanisms.
