Single-cell sequencing quantitative analysis of skin tissues of wild-type and Chrna5-/- mice treated with imiquimod

Purpose: To understand the molecular processes and cell subsets involved in an increase in the psoriatic inflammatory response in Chrna5 signaling compared with WT mice, we performed single-cell sequencing with dorsal skin tissues after IMQ and vaseline treatment. Methods: Skin mRNA profiles of wile-type (WT) and cholinergic receptor nicotinic alpha 5 subunit knockout (Chrna5-/-)mice were generated by deep sequencing. The samples of KO and WT mice after IMQ and vaseline treatment were processed in terms of alignment, barcode assignment, and UMI counting with Cell Ranger, version 3.0.2 (https://github.com/10XGenomics/cellranger) count pipeline. Results: The cell clustering analysis , the heat map analysis , the cell subpopulations of keratinocytes analysis, the gene enrichment analysis and signal pathway analysis were all carried out . The results of these studies indicated that Chrna5 knockout has a significant effect on the proliferation of keratinocytes after IMQ treatment. Further gene analysis and signal pathway analysis showed that Chrna5 knockout down-regulated the JAK/STAT signal pathway, which is a key signal pathway for the occurrence and development of psoriasis. Conclusions: These results revealed the potential role of Chrna5 in the occurrence and development of psoriasis, and provided a basis for it as a potential drug target. Skin mRNA profiles of WT and Chrna5-/- mice treated with imiquimod