Fig. 2: ECM hydrogel promotes macrophage activation, neovascularization, cardiomyocyte development gene activation, and fibroblast activation in a subacute MI model.

a, b snRNAseq was performed on ECM hydrogel and saline hearts, where coarse clustering (a) defined primary cell types found in the heart with relative percentages and total number of cells per each primary cell time and per treatment (ECM hydrogel: red; saline: cyan) (b). Sample size: n = 2 replicates of subacute ECM hydrogel (22230 cells); n = 2 replicates of subacute saline (18537 cells). c–e Macrophages (c), endothelial cells (d), cardiomyocytes (e), and fibroblasts (f) were separately subsetted and reclustered into UMAP space. For each cell type, unique clusters to both the ECM hydrogel (red) and saline (cyan) groups were compared, with their differentially expressed genes displayed in a Volcano plot. All ECM hydrogel specific differentially expressed genes were subjected to GO enrichment. g Overview of findings with snRNAseq in the subacute model, where we found macrophage polarization, vascular development, cardiomyocyte survival and development, fibroblast activation, T-cell polarization, smooth muscle cell proliferation and development, neurogenesis, and lymphatic endothelial cell development. Figure created in BioRender, and is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://biorender.com/r54nzgf). Significance was determined via nonparametric Wilcoxon rank-sum tests with a Benjamini–Hochberg FDR adjustment to determine gene lists, and via Kolmogoro-Smirnov tests and permutation testing, with Benjamin-Hochberg FDR adjustment (c–f). Source data are provided as a Source Data file. ECM extracellular matrix, EC endothelial cell, CM cardiomyocyte, SMC smooth muscle cell, UMAP uniform manifold approximation and projection, reg regulation, Pop population, Prolif proliferation, Dev development, FC fold change.