A strategy to quantify myofibroblast activation on a continuous spectrum, 10x Genomics scRNAseq, human atrial cardiac fibroblasts

Myofibroblasts are a highly secretory and contractile cell phenotype that are predominant in wound healing and fibrotic disease. Traditionally, myofibroblasts are identified by the de novo expression and assembly of alpha-smooth muscle actin stress fibers, leading to a binary classification: "activated" or "quiescent (non-activated)". More recently, however, myofibroblast activation has been considered on a continuous spectrum, but there is no established method to quantify the position of a cell on this spectrum. We have generated single-cell RNA sequencing transcriptomic data for mechanically activated cardiac fibroblasts using the Chromium Next GEM Single Cell 3' reagent Kit, v3.1 (10x Genomics). Single cell partitioning, cDNA library preparation, and sequencing using a NovaSeq6000 was performed by the University of Texas Genomic Sequencing and Analysis Facility.