Dry eye disease in mice activates adaptive corneal epithelial regeneration distinct from constitutive renewal in homeostasis.

ABSTRACT: Many epithelial compartments undergo constitutive renewal in homeostasis but activate unique regenerative responses following injury. The clear corneal epithelium is crucial for vision and is renewed from limbal stem cells (LSCs). Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we profiled the mouse corneal epithelium in homeostasis, aging, diabetes, and dry eye disease (DED), where tear deficiency predisposes the cornea to recurrent injury. In homeostasis, we capture the transcriptional states that accomplish continuous tissue turnover. We leverage our dataset to identify candidate genes and gene networks that characterize key stages across homeostatic renewal, including markers for LSCs. In aging and diabetes, there were only mild changes with <15 dysregulated genes. The constitutive cell types that a

SUBMITTER: Lin JB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9926235 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature