Fig. 4: The heterogeneity within the SMC cluster.

a tSNE plots of the four SMC subclusters. The cells are coloured according to their subcluster or the expression level of classic actin and myosin genes. VSMC: vascular smooth muscle cells; CCSMC: corpus cavernosal trabecular smooth muscle cells; PC: pericyte; MFB: myofibroblast. b The DEGs in each SMC subcluster (left panel) based on normal samples are shown as a heatmap, and the GO terms (biological process) associated with their DEGs are listed in the right panel. The count of the DEGs for each SMC subcluster is listed in the middle panel. c CCSMC and VSMC could be distinguished according to DES protein expression. H&E staining showing the main region of the CC (upper panel). tSNE plots showing that DES is specifically expressed in the CCSMC subcluster (left panel). Immunofluorescence co-staining of DES (red) and SMA (green) in CC paraffin sections. The scale bar represents 100 µm. a, septum pectiniforme; b, region near septum pectiniforme; c, cavernosal trabecular region (sinusoid); d, cavernous artery; e, nerve bundles; f, small vessels. d The heterogenous expression pattern of smooth muscle contraction-related genes in the four SMC subclusters. P-values with a horizontal line on the violins represent statistical differences between this subcluster and the other subclusters within the SMC cluster. The statistical analysis was made by ANOVA with Tukey’s multiple comparisons test; two-tailed; the confidence interval is 95%. P-values without a line on the violins represent a significant difference between this disease type and the two other types within one subcluster. Box plots indicate median (middle line), 25th, 75th percentile (box) and 5th and 95th percentile (whiskers) as well as outliers (single points).