The first transcriptomic atlas of the adult lacrimal gland reveals epithelial complexity and identifies novel progenitor cells in mice

The lacrimal gland (LG) secretes aqueous tears. Previous studies have provided insights into the cell lineage relationships during tissue morphogenesis. However, little is known about the cell types composing the adult LG and their progenitors. Using scRNA-seq, we established the first comprehensive cell atlas of the adult mouse LG to investigate cell hierarchy, their secretory repertoire and sex differences. For each sample (1 Female and 2 Males), six dissected LGs of three animals aged of 2 months were combined and processed for scRNAseq analysis泪腺（lacrimal gland, LG）可分泌水性泪液。既往研究已阐明了组织形态发生过程中的细胞谱系关系。然而，目前对于构成成年泪腺的细胞类型及其祖细胞仍知之甚少。本研究借助单细胞RNA测序（single-cell RNA sequencing, scRNA-seq）技术，构建了首个成年小鼠泪腺的综合细胞图谱，以探究其细胞层级结构、分泌谱特征及性别差异。每个样本（包含1只雌性小鼠与2只雄性小鼠）均由3只2月龄小鼠的6枚解剖分离的泪腺混合制备，随后进行单细胞RNA测序分析。