Single cell RNA-sequencing of epithelial cells, endothelial cells and macrophages from mouse submandibular salivary glands
The salivary glands often become damaged in individuals receiving radiotherapy for head and neck cancer, resulting in chronic dry mouth. This leads to detrimental effects on their health and quality of life, for which there is no regenerative therapy. Macrophages are the predominant immune cell in the salivary glands and are attractive therapeutic targets due to their unrivalled capacity to drive tissue repair. Yet, the nature and role of macrophages in salivary gland homeostasis, and how they may contribute to tissue repair following injury is not well understood. Here, using scRNAseq we profile the transcriptomes of adult mouse salivary gland macrophages at steady state (D0) and at days 3 and 28 after targeted irradiation injury to define the transcriptional profiles of macrophages during homeostasis, acute injury and regeneration. We sorted epithelial cells (CD326+), endothelial cells (CD31+) and macrophages (CD45+CD11b+F4/80+) and sequenced their transcriptomes using 10x Genomics Single Cell 3' (v3.1). For each sample equal numbers of cells from 2 mice were pooled.