Fig. 1
Eight subpopulations of VSMCs were identified with different functions and markers including 2 new markers for synthetic VSMCs. A t-SNE plot showed 8 subpopulations of VSMCs upon re-clustering. Bthe proportion of each subpopulation of VSMCs between control and ATAD. The dashed line was used to discriminate the dominant subpopulations in ATAD and control group. C the heatmap of marker genes for each subpopulation of VSMCs. D the expression of growth factors in each subpopulation of VSMCs. E t-SNE plots displayed the expression of representative marker genes for each subpopulation of VSMCs. F Qusage analysis of hallmark gene-sets enrichment for each subpopulation of VSMCs. G Qusage analysis of selected gene-sets enrichment relating to ATAD and functions of VSMCs for each subpopulation. H the results of Qusage analysis to identify functions of contraction, collagen synthesis and proliferation for each subpopulation of VSMCs. I IHC results showed higher expression of MYH10 (synthetic VSMCs markers), STEAP4 and CXCL12 in ATAD group, but the expression of MYLK (contractile VSMCs marker) was inverted. It also displayed similar expression characteristics of MYH10, STEAP4 and CXCL12 in same area except for MYLK. J IF revealed co-expression of STEAP4/CXCL12/MYH10 but not STEAP4/CXCL12/MYLK (contractile VSMCs marker) in control and ATAD group, with higher positive proportion of STEAP4/CXCL12/MYH10 in ATAD group. K differential expressed genes (DEGs) in subpopulations of VSMCs (ATAD/Control). L GO analysis for up-regulated and down-regulated genes in subpopulations of VSMCs (ATAD/Control)