Project description:RNA sequencing was performed on uninjured, and injured (FSP1, and aSMA expressing) fibroblasts from mice hearts. Fibrosis accompanying wound healing can drive the failure of many different organs. Activated fibroblasts are the principal determinants of post-injury pathological fibrosis as well as physiological repair, making them a difficult therapeutic target. Fibroblasts are a heterogeneous cell population lacking unique functional classification. We demonstrated that FSP1 and αSMA expressing cells are distinct, post-injury fibroblasts in the heart, kidney, and skin and exhibit unique temporal expression patterns. Using mice that express GFP under the FSP1 or αSMA promoters, we isolated these fibroblasts from mouse hearts after myocardial infarction. Protein and transcript arrays, cellular assays as well as in vivo granulation tissue formation were used to determine their functional role(s) in healing and fibrosis. Whereas αSMA+ fibroblasts predominated in producing matrix proteins, FSP1+ fibroblasts significantly promoted angiogenesis. These studies have the potential to shift our focus towards viewing fibroblasts not only molecularly but also as functionally heterogeneous and provide a new paradigm with which to approach treatment for organ fibrosis.
Project description:Fibrosis accompanying wound healing can drive the failure of many different organs. Activated fibroblasts are the principal determinants of post-injury pathological fibrosis along with physiological repair, making them a difficult therapeutic target. Although activated fibroblasts are phenotypically heterogeneous, they are not recognized as distinct functional entities. Using mice that express GFP under the FSP1 or αSMA promoter, we characterized two non-overlapping fibroblast subtypes from mouse hearts after myocardial infarction. Here, we report the identification of FSP1-GFP+ cells as a non-pericyte, non-hematopoietic fibroblast subpopulation with a predominant pro-angiogenic role, characterized by in vitro phenotypic/cellular/ultrastructural studies and in vivo granulation tissue formation assays combined with transcriptomics and proteomics. This work identifies a fibroblast subtype that is functionally distinct from the pro-fibrotic αSMA-expressing myofibroblast subtype. Our study has the potential to shift our focus towards viewing fibroblasts as molecularly and functionally heterogeneous and provides a paradigm to approach treatment for organ fibrosis.
Project description:Impaired skin wound healing is a significant global health issue, especially among the elderly. Wound healing is a well-orchestrated process involving the sequential phases of inflammation, proliferation, and tissue remodeling. Although wound healing is a highly dynamic and energy-requiring process, the role of metabolism remains largely unexplored. By combining transcriptomics and metabolomics of human skin biopsy samples, we mapped the core bioenergetic and metabolic changes in normal acute as well as chronic wounds in elderly subjects. We found upregulation of glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle, glutaminolysis, and β-oxidation in the later stages of acute wound healing and in chronic wounds. To ascertain the role of these metabolic pathways on wound healing, we targeted each pathway in a wound healing assay as well as in a human skin explant model using metabolic inhibitors and stimulants. Enhancement or inhibition of glycolysis and, to a lesser extent, glutaminolysis had a far greater impact on wound healing than similar manipulations of oxidative phosphorylation and fatty acid β-oxidation. These findings increase the understanding of wound metabolism and identify glycolysis and glutaminolysis as potential targets for therapeutic intervention.
Project description:The process of wound healing in humans is poorly understood. To identify spatiotemporal gene expression patterns during human wound healing, we performed single cell and spatial transcriptomics profiling of human in vivo wound samples.
Project description:Repairing a damaged body part is critical for the survival of an organism. Tissue damage induces rapid responses to activate downstream events including defense, regeneration and wound healing. Despite accumulating knowledge of early wound signaling including the orchestrated actions of phytohormones, electric circus and reactive oxygen species, our knowledge about the end point of a wound response - wound healing, is still limited. We observed that a local temperature reduction associated with the activation of cold-responsive genes occurred at wounding site on Arabidopsis leaves, which was likely caused by evaporative cooling. The disappearance of localized cooling and restoration of cold responsive genes to a steady state could be used as a quantitative readout of wound healing. Based on these observations, we developed a deep learning pipeline to monitor the dynamics of wound healing. We found that CBFs transcription factors relay injury-induced cooling signal to wound healing. Thus, our work provides a tool to quantify wound healing in plants and advances our understanding of tissue repair in plants.
Project description:Urinary bladder wound healing is today pooorly chracterized. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNA molecules with regulatory functions. In this study we aimed at identifying microRNAs expressed during bladder wound healing. We performed Affymetrix microRNA profiling of the rodent urinary bladder during healing of a surgically created wound.
Project description:To investigate the roles of FGF4 in the regulation of skin wound healing, we established wound healing models on mice and the wound were topically treated by rFGF4 or PBS control for 6 days, and wound edges were collected for RNA-seq analysis.
Project description:MicroRNAs are powerful gene expression regulators, but their corneal repertoire and potential changes in corneal diseases remain unknown. Our purpose was to identify miRNAs altered in the human diabetic cornea by microarray analysis, and to examine their effects on wound healing in cultured telomerase-immortalized human corneal epithelial cells (HCEC) in vitro. Using microarrays, 29 miRNAs were identified as differentially expressed in diabetic samples. Two miRNA candidates showing the highest fold increased in expression in the diabetic cornea were confirmed by Q-PCR and further characterized. HCEC transfection with h-miR-146a or h-miR-424 significantly retarded wound closure, but their respective antagomirs significantly enhanced wound healing vs. controls. Cells treated with h-miR-146a or h-miR-424 had decreased p-p38 and p-EGFR staining, but these increased over control levels close to the wound edge upon antagomir treatment. In conclusion, several miRNAs with increased expression in human diabetic central corneas were found. Two such miRNAs inhibited cultured corneal epithelial cell wound healing. Dysregulation of miRNA expression in human diabetic cornea may be an important mediator of abnormal wound healing. Total RNA was extracted from age-matched human autopsy normal (n=6) and diabetic (n=6) central corneas, Flash Tag end-labeled, and hybridized to Affymetrix® GeneChip® miRNA Arrays. Select miRNAs associated with diabetic cornea were validated by quantitative RT-PCR (Q-PCR) and by in situ hybridization (ISH) in independent samples.