Fig. 4: Transcriptomic analysis reveals increased fibrosis and inflammatory infiltration in the peritoneum of EPS mice.

A Heatmap of RNA-seq data comparing gene expression in the visceral peritoneum of Control (n = 3) and EPS (n = 3) mice. B Gene Ontology (GO) biological process enrichment analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) significantly upregulated in EPS mice compared to controls. C GSEA) showing enhanced myeloid leukocyte activation and regulation of leukocyte adhesion in EPS mice. D UMAP plot illustrating cell clusters from two publicly available single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) datasets of mouse omentum. Mes: mesothelial cells; Endo: Endothelial cells; Fib: Fibroblasts; Neutro: Neutrophils; Macro: Macrophages; T: T cells. E Venn diagram showing the overlap between cell type-specific marker genes from scRNA-seq datasets and DEGs identified in our bulk RNA-seq data. F Deconvolution analysis using scRNA-seq datasets to compare cellular proportions in the Control and EPS groups, highlighting an increased proportion of fibroblasts among parenchymal cells and macrophages among immune cells in EPS mice (n = 3 per group). G Flow cytometry analysis of visceral peritoneum from intestine, confirming a significant increase in immune cell infiltration, particularly macrophages, in EPS mice compared to controls (n = 5 per group). H Correlation analysis between COL1A1 expression and the infiltration of various inflammatory cell types, showing a strong positive correlation between macrophage infiltration and extracellular matrix (ECM) progression. I Correlation analysis between the macrophages proportion detected by flow cytometry with COL1A1 expression in the peritoneum by immunohistochemistry and peritoneal thickness. Data are presented as mean ± SEM. * p < 0.05, *** p < 0.001, two-tailed Student’s t-test.