Expression data from human dermal fibroblast subpopulations

Fibroblasts are the main dermis-resident cells, yet they remain poorly characterized. Fundamentally, fibroblasts originate from the same population of mesenchymal cells but fibroblast subpopulations have been identified. Papillary and reticular fibroblasts were characterized based on their respective location in the papillary and reticular dermis. Here, we identified a new subset of fibroblasts, located in human papillary dermis and displaying specific features such as their organization into cell clusters. We used microarrays to detail the gene expression profiles of the novel fibroblast subpopulation we have identified compared to papillary and reticualr fibroblasts and notably the relative contribution of the different fibroblast subpopulations to the extracellular matrix of the dermis. Three different patients were used in the study. For each patient, three samples were analyzed: single cells from papillary dermis (SC), cell clusters (C) and single cells from reticular dermis (R). Each sample has been duplicated. The experimental design results in a total of 18 samples.