Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed cell heterogeneity in sagittal suture mesenchyme
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ABSTRACT:
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE309200 | GEO | 2026/01/20
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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Project description:Craniofacial development depends on formation and maintenance of sutures between bones of the skull. In sutures, growth occurs at osteogenic fronts along the edge of each bone and suture mesenchyme separates adjacent bones. We performed single-cell RNA-seq analysis of the embryonic, murine coronal suture. Seven populations at E16.5 and nine at E18.5 comprised the suture mesenchyme, osteogenic cells, and associated populations. Expression of Hhip, an inhibitor of hedgehog (HH) signaling, marked a mesenchymal population distinct from other neurocranial sutures. At E18.5, Hhip-/- coronal osteogenic fronts were closely apposed and HH signaling was increased throughout the depleted suture mesenchyme compared to WT, demonstrating that Hhip is required for normal coronal suture development. Tracing of the neonatal Hhip-expressing population showed that descendant cells persisted in the coronal suture and contributed to calvarial bone growth. Our transcriptomic approach provides a rich resource for insight into normal and abnormal development.
2021-06-26 | GSE178899 | GEO
Project description:Craniofacial development depends on the formation of fibrous joints, or sutures, between skull bones. Premature fusion of sutures, or craniosynostosis, is a common human pathology. Ectopic Hedgehog (HH) signaling is one cause of craniosynostosis. Hhip encodes an inhibitor of HH ligands, and we previously identified coronal suture dysgenesis in embryonic Hhip-/- mice, in which suture mesenchyme was depleted between closely opposed but unfused osteogenic fronts at E18.5. Here, we report that the lambdoid suture fuses in Hhip-/- mice by E18.5. RNA-seq analysis of the Hhip-/- coronal and lambdoid sutures show that HH target gene expression, including Pthlh, is upregulated. Paradoxically, expression of Ihh is downregulated. We hypothesized that PTHLH, a negative regulator of Ihh expression, may reduce HH signaling to promote coronal suture patency and prevent fusion of the Hhip-/- coronal suture. We generated Hhip-/-;Pthlh-/- embryos and found that coronal sutures are fusing by E18.5. Our results reveal a previously undescribed role for Pthlh in suture development and demonstrate suture-specific roles for HH inhibitors in maintaining suture patency.
2025-09-26 | GSE294710 | GEO
Project description:CCD, which is characterized by hypoplastic clavicles, open fontanelles, supernumerary teeth, and short stature, are caused by heterozygous mutation of RUNX2. However, the reason why the suture closure is severely impaired in CCD patients remains to be clarified. The closure of posterior frontal (PF) and sagittal sutures was completely interrupted in Runx2+/– mice, and the proliferation of the suture mesenchymal cells was reduced compared with that in wild-type mice. To reveal the molecular mechanism, the differentially expressed genes between wild-type and Runx2+/– PF sutures were identified by microarray and real-time RT-PCR analyses. The expression of hedgehog, Fgf, Wnt, Pthlh signaling pathway genes, including Gli1, Ptch1, Ihh, Fgfr1-3, Tcf7, Wnt10b, Wnt1, and Pth1r, was reduced in PF sutures of Runx2+/– mice. These findings indicated that more than half dosage of Runx2 is required for the proliferation of suture mesenchymal cells, their commitment into osteoblast-lineage cells, and the induction of the hedgehog, Fgf, Wnt, and Pthlh signaling pathway gene expression in the sutures.
2019-10-09 | GSE119523 | GEO
Project description:Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed cell heterogeneity in sagittal suture mesenchyme
| PRJNA1334314 | ENA
Project description:Cranial sutures separate neighboring skull bones and contain skeletal stem cells that drive bone growth. A key question is how osteogenic activity is controlled to promote bone growth while preventing aberrant bone fusions during skull expansion. Here we integrate single-cell transcriptomics, in vivo expression validation, photoconversion-based lineage tracing, and a zebrafish craniosynostosis model to uncover key developmental transitions regulating bone formation during skull expansion. In addition to conservation of meninges and osteoblast lineage cells between zebrafish and mouse, single-cell transcriptomic analysis of the zebrafish skull reveals distinct subpopulations of suture mesenchyme that undergo transcriptomic changes during suture establishment. While lineage tracing with an osteoblast-specific nlsEOS reporter shows that bone formation largely occurs at suture edges, a subset of mesenchyme cells in the mid-suture region upregulate a suite of genes including BMP antagonists (e.g. grem1a) and pro-angiogenic factors. Further, lineage tracing with grem1a:nlsEOS reveals that this mid-suture subpopulation is largely non-osteogenic. In twist1b; tcf12 mutant zebrafish, a model for the coronal synostosis of Saethre-Chotzen Syndrome, reduction of grem1a+ mid-suture cells correlates with misregulated bone formation and reduced blood vessels at the coronal suture. In addition, combinatorial mutation of BMP antagonists enriched in the mid-suture subpopulation results in increased BMP signaling in the suture, misregulated bone formation, and abnormal suture morphology. These data support roles of a subset of mid-suture mesenchyme in locally promoting BMP antagonism that ensures proper suture morphology.
2024-07-11 | GSE223147 | GEO
Project description:Many surgical tendon repairs fail despite advances in surgical materials and techniques. Tendon repair failure can be partially attributed to the tendon’s poor intrinsic healing capacity and the repurposing of sutures from use in other tissues. Electrospun materials show promise as a biological scaffold to support endogenous tendon repair, but their relatively low tensile strength has limited their clinical translation. It is hypothesized that combining electrospun fibres with a stronger material may improve the suture’s mechanical properties while retaining biophysical cues necessary to encourage cell-mediated repair. This paper describes the production of a hybrid electrospun-extruded suture with a sheath of submicron electrospun fibres and a core of melt-extruded fibres. The porosity and tensile strength of this hybrid suture is compared to an electrospun-only braided suture and clinically used sutures Vicryl and PDS. Bioactivity is assessed by measuring the adsorbed serum proteins on electrospun and melt-extruded filaments using mass spectrometry. Human hamstring tendon fibroblast attachment and proliferation was quantified and compared between the hybrid and control sutures. Combining an electrospun sheath with melt-extruded cores created a hybrid braid with increased tensile strength (70.1±0.3N) compared to an electrospun only suture (12.9±1N, p<0.0001). The hybrid suture had a similar force at break to clinical sutures, but lower stiffness and stress. The Young’s modulus was 772.6±32Mpa for the hybrid suture, 1693.0±69Mpa for PDS, and 3838.0±132MPa for Vicryl, p<0.0001. Hybrid sutures had lower overall porosity than electrospun-only sutures (40±4% and 60±7%, respectively, p=0.0018) but had a significantly larger overall porosity and average pore diameter compared to surgical sutures. There were similar clusters of adsorbed proteins on electrospun and melt-extruded filaments, which were distinct from PDS. Tendon fibroblast attachment on hybrid and electrospun sutures was significantly higher than on clinical sutures (hybrid 28±7%; electrospun 24±7%; Vicryl 10±5%; PDS 2±0.1%, p<0.0001). Cell proliferation was significantly higher on hybrid and electrospun sutures compared to on clinical sutures. Overall, this study demonstrated that a bioactive suture with increased tensile strength and lower stiffness could be produced by adding a core of 10um melt-extruded fibres to a sheath of electrospun fibres. In contrast to currently used sutures, the hybrid sutures promoted a bioactive response: serum proteins adsorbed, and fibroblasts attached, survived, grew along the sutures, and adopted appropriate morphologies.
2024-05-23 | PXD045312 | Pride
Project description:Sutures separate the flat bones of the skull and enable coordinated growth of the brain and overlying cranium. In order to uncover the cellular diversity within sutures, we conducted single-cell transcriptomic and histological analyses of the embryonic murine coronal suture. We identify Erg and Pthlh as early markers of osteogenic progenitors in sutures, and distinct pre-osteoblast signatures between the bone fronts and periosteum. diverse mesenchymal layers at the coronal suture, including multiple distinct meningeal layers below the suture, and ligamentous, ectocranial, and hypodermal layers above the sutureIn the ectocranial layers above the suture, we observe a ligament-like population spanning the frontal and parietal bones and expressing genes implicated in mechanosensation. Mesenchyme in and around the coronal suture is asymmetrically distributed between the frontal and parietal bones, and we identify different states of osteogenic cells extending from the bone fronts into the more mature bone, and a potential signature for sutural stem cellsIn the meningeal layers, we detect a potential chondrogenic periosteal dura population that may be involved in endochondral ossification that closes sutures. Expression of genes mutated in craniosynostosis is spread across diverse cell types, suggesting multiple points at which homeostasis can fail. This single-cell atlas provides a resource to understand the development of the coronal suture, the suture most commonly fused in craniosynostosis.
2021-06-17 | GSE163693 | GEO
Project description:In newborn humans, and up to approximately 2 y of age, calvarial bone defects can naturally regenerate. This remarkable regeneration potential is also found in newborn mice and is absent in adult mice. Since previous studies showed that the mouse calvarial sutures are reservoirs of calvarial skeletal stem cells (cSSCs), which are the cells responsible for calvarial bone regeneration, here we hypothesized that the regenerative potential of the newborn mouse calvaria is due to a significant amount of cSSCs present in the newborn expanding sutures. Thus, we tested whether such regenerative potential can be reverse engineered in adult mice by artificially inducing an increase of the cSSCs resident within the adult calvarial sutures.First, we analyzed the cellular composition of the calvarial sutures in newborn and in older mice, up to 14-mo-old mice, showing that the sutures of the younger mice are enriched in cSSCs. Then, we demonstrated that a controlled mechanical expansion of the functionally closed sagittal sutures of adult mice induces a significant increase of the cSSCs. Finally, we showed that if a calvarial critical size bone defect is created simultaneously to the mechanical expansion of the sagittal suture, it fully regenerates without the need for additional therapeutic aids. Using a genetic blockade system, we further demonstrate that this endogenous regeneration is mediated by the canonical Wnt signaling.This study shows that controlled mechanical forces can harness the cSSCs and induce calvarial bone regeneration. Similar harnessing strategies may be used to develop novel and more effective bone regeneration autotherapies.
2023-04-11 | GSE227468 | GEO
Project description:Purpose: The cranial suture is a fibrous joint, and similar to the growth plates of the skeletal long bone, they serve as the major centers of calvarial vault morphogenesis. Our group’s identification of a skeletal stem cell isolated from the mouse tibial growth plate prompted us to investigate whether these skeletal stem cells are also resident in the mouse cranial sutures and if they govern postnatal suture patency or fusion. Results: We preformed a spatio-temporal profiling of the mouse cranial sutures by flow cytometry, demonstrating a significant decrease in the temporal representation of skeletal stem cells in fusing versus patent sutures. Moreover, canonical Wnt signaling has a significant impact on skeletal stem cells proliferation and thus representation within the suture, dictating fate: fusion or patency. Breeding an Axin2+/-LacZ mouse, with enhanced activation of canonical Wnt signaling to a Twist1+/− mouse, harboring a coronal craniosynostosis enriched the skeletal stem cell pool in coronal sutures, thereby preventing Twist1+/− craniosynostosis. Conclusions: Our findings suggest an imbalance and/or decrease in resident skeletal stem cells within the cranial sutures gives rise to craniosynostosis, however, restoring this representation by enriching skeletal stem cells within the suture can maintain patency.
2020-04-15 | GSE138881 | GEO
Project description:Purpose: The cranial suture is a fibrous joint, and similar to the growth plates of the skeletal long bone, they serve as the major centers of calvarial vault morphogenesis. Our group’s identification of a skeletal stem cell isolated from the mouse tibial growth plate prompted us to investigate whether these skeletal stem cells are also resident in the mouse cranial sutures and if they govern postnatal suture patency or fusion. Results: We preformed a spatio-temporal profiling of the mouse cranial sutures by flow cytometry, demonstrating a significant decrease in the temporal representation of skeletal stem cells in fusing versus patent sutures. Moreover, canonical Wnt signaling has a significant impact on skeletal stem cells proliferation and thus representation within the suture, dictating fate: fusion or patency. Breeding an Axin2+/-LacZ mouse, with enhanced activation of canonical Wnt signaling to a Twist1+/− mouse, harboring a coronal craniosynostosis enriched the skeletal stem cell pool in coronal sutures, thereby preventing Twist1+/− craniosynostosis. Conclusions: Our findings suggest an imbalance and/or decrease in resident skeletal stem cells within the cranial sutures gives rise to craniosynostosis, however, restoring this representation by enriching skeletal stem cells within the suture can maintain patency.
2020-04-15 | GSE138880 | GEO