Single-cell RNA sequencing of mouse brain and lung vascular and vessel-associated cell types
Open accessAbstract
Vascular diseases are major causes of death, yet our understanding of the cellular constituents of blood vessels, including how differences in their gene expression profiles create diversity in vascular structure and function, is limited. In this paper, we describe a single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) dataset that defines vascular and vessel-associated cell types and subtypes in mouse brain and lung. The dataset contains 3,436 single cell transcriptomes from mouse brain, which formed 15 distinct clusters corresponding to cell (sub)types, and another 1,504 single cell transcriptomes from mouse lung, which formed 17 cell clusters. In order to allow user-friendly access to our data, we constructed a searchable database ( http://betsholtzlab.org/VascularSingleCells/database.html ). Our dataset constitutes a comprehensive molecular atlas of vascular and vessel-associated cell types in the mouse brain and lung, and as such provides a strong foundation for future studies of vascular development and diseases.
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The Betsholtz lab vascular atlas shows highest Plcg2 expression in microglia, followed by arterial endothelial cells.
“The Betsholtz lab vascular atlas shows highest Plcg2 expression in microglia, followed by arterial endothelial cells, highlighting putative roles at the blood-brain and perivascular interfaces [72].”
From PLCγ2 deficiency compromises systemic immune tolerance and erodes myelin homeostasis while enhancing oxidative metabolism in the mouse brain (2026) · cites this paper as [72]
The Background & Summary (page unavailable) describes a searchable vascular atlas with microglia and arterial endothelial cell clusters, and says the database displays gene expression across cell types. Our copy does not state the claimed Plcg2 expression ranking; searches for “Plcg2” and the cell-type comparison found no passage establishing it. (LLM, conf=0.82)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the Aging Mouse Brain Single Cell Portal, Plcg2 expression is highest in microglia and brain macrophages, with lower levels in endothelial cells and oligodendrocyte precursor cells and minimal to no expression in neurons, astrocytes, and mature oligodendrocytes.
“In the Aging Mouse Brain Single Cell Portal, Plcg2 expression is highest in microglia and brain macrophages, with lower levels in endothelial cells and oligodendrocyte precursor cells and minimal to no expression in neurons, astrocytes, and mature oligodendrocytes [30, 72–74].”
From PLCγ2 deficiency compromises systemic immune tolerance and erodes myelin homeostasis while enhancing oxidative metabolism in the mouse brain (2026) · cites this paper as [72]
The Background & Summary describes a searchable database of adult mouse brain vascular and vessel-associated cells, but does not report Plcg2 expression or identify the Aging Mouse Brain Single Cell Portal. Searches for “Plcg2” and the portal name found no passage establishing the claimed ranking across cell types. (LLM, conf=0.73)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Cites
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Trimm, E., & Red-Horse, K. (2023) · Nature Reviews Cardiology · doi:10.1038/s41569-022-00770-1 · Cited by 537 · see citing works
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- Authors
- He, L., Vanlandewijck, M., Mäe, M. A., Andrae, J., Ando, K., Del Gaudio, F., Nahar, K., Lebouvier, T., Laviña, B., Gouveia, L., Sun, Y., Raschperger, E., Segerstolpe, Å., Liu, J., Gustafsson, S., Räsänen, M., Zarb, Y., Mochizuki, N., Keller, A., Lendahl, U., & Betsholtz, C.
- Affiliations
- Tianjin Medical University General Hospital (CN)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Betsholtz, Christer
- ORCID
- Venue
- Scientific Data
- Published
- 2018-08-21
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 180160-180160
- ISSN
- 2052-4463 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6103262
- OpenAlex
- W2888209830
- Cited by
- 413
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 33 · 2025: 44 · 2024: 54 · 2023: 58 · 2022: 68 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 67 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 2 · 2012: 1
- Type
- data paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Data (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- KTH Publication Database DiVA (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Fondation Leducq (14CVD02)
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (31003A_159514/1, 150735, 20097, 159514)
- Cancerfonden (CAN 2016/271, 150735)
- Hjärnfonden
- Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse (2015.0030)
- Vetenskapsrådet (2015-00550)
- Science for Life Laboratory
- FP7 Ideas: European Research Council (294556)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Angiogenesis and VEGF in Cancer
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Diseases
- Keywords
- cell type classification, single-cell transcriptome atlas, vascular development, vascular disease
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Blood Vessels, Brain, Lung, Databases, Factual, Sequence Analysis, RNA, Pericytes, Myocytes, Smooth Muscle, Endothelial Cells, Mice, Single-Cell Analysis, Transcriptome
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