Journal of Tissue Engineering and Reconstructive Surgery ›› 2023, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (2): 115-.

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Analysis of the mechanism of fibroblast involvement in scarless healing of oral mucosa based on single cell transcriptome sequencing

  

  • Online:2023-04-01 Published:2023-05-09

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Abstract:

Objective　To explore the heterogeneity of human normal oral mucosa and skin fibroblasts and the mechanism of
oral mucosal fibroblasts in promoting scarless wound healing. Methods　Single-cell transcriptome sequencing data were obtained
from the GEO database for 13 cases of oral mucosa and 8 cases of skin. The 64,633 cells were subjected to quality control, dimen sionality, clustering and cell annotation. Fibroblasts were extracted and annotated for subsets definition, differential gene enrichment
and intercellular interactions analysis. Results　Fibroblasts can be divided into 5 subsets: inflammatory, adipose, mesenchymal,
contractile, and Wnt-inhibited. The proportion of inflammatory fibroblasts was significantly upregulated in the oral mucosa and
was associated with immune cell recruitment. CXCL13, EEF1A1 and B2M genes were highly expressed in oral mucosa fibro
blasts. Gene ontology (GO) functional analysis showed that scar healing-related pathways such as immune response and pro-in
flammatory pathways were activated in oral fibroblasts. Cellular interaction analysis revealed that the interaction between fibro
blast subsets was significantly changed, the information flow of oral mucosal COLLAGEN signaling pathway was upregulated, and
the score of collagen degradation genes including MMP1 and MMP10 were also increased (P<0.05). Conclusion　Fibroblasts
in normal skin and oral mucosa differ significantly in their subpopulation and function. The stronger inflammatory characteristics
and collagen metabolism of oral mucosal fibroblasts may drive the scarless wound healing.

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