Fig. 2 | Scientific Reports

Fig. 2

From: Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals the potential role of Postn(+) fibroblasts in promoting the progression of myocardial fibrosis after myocardial infarction

Fig. 2The alternative text for this image may have been generated using AI.

Characterization of Fibroblast Subpopulations in the MI and Sham Groups. (A) Differentially expressed genes were used to identify 10 distinct cell types from high-quality filtered cells in the MI and Sham groups. The distribution of cells from both groups across these cell types was depicted, along with their cell cycle states. Additionally, differences in nCount RNA and nFeature RNA across cell types were presented. (B) Bar plots illustrated the proportion of various cell types in the MI and Sham groups, as well as the composition of cell cycle states within each cell type. (C) Violin plots provided a comparative visualization of nCount RNA and nFeature RNA levels among different cell types. (D) Differentially expressed genes were identified for each of the 10 cell types. (E) The word cloud map displayed enriched terms related to fibroblasts. (F) GSEA results for fibroblasts were presented. (G) Based on differentially expressed marker genes, three fibroblast clusters were annotated as subpopulations and named Sparcl1+, Postn+, and Clu + Fibroblasts, according to their most distinct marker genes. (H) UMAP plots showed the sample origin and grouping of the three fibroblast subpopulations, along with the proportions of cells in different cell cycle states within each subpopulation (It is worth noting that in the data used in this study, the sample source GSM number corresponds to the group one by one: GSM4040774 corresponds to the MI group, and GSM4040775 corresponds to the Sham group). (I) Differentially expressed genes of the three fibroblast subpopulations were analyzed using GO-BP analysis. (J) Volcano plots highlighted the upregulated and downregulated genes in the three fibroblast subpopulations, with separate GO-BP analyses performed for each group. (K) GSEA results for C1 Postn + Fibroblasts were presented. (L) Bubble plots demonstrated differences in stemness gene expression among the subpopulations and between the groups. (M) UMAP and violin plots showed the expression levels of the stemness-related genes Ctnnb1 and Hif1a in the C1 subpopulation, comparing their rankings across subpopulations and groups. (N–P) The significant metabolic pathways for the three fibroblast subpopulations were analyzed using AUC values. The highest-scoring pathway for C1 Postn + Fibroblasts was oxidative phosphorylation, and its differences across subpopulations were visualized using UMAP and violin plots. Additionally, differences between the MI and Sham groups were highlighted. (Q) The heatmap compared heart failure and myocardial fibrosis scores across the three fibroblast subpopulations. (R) The UMAP plot displayed the distribution and density variations of myocardial fibrosis scores. (S–U) Violin plots compared myocardial fibrosis scores across different samples, groups, and subpopulations.

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