Neuroinflammation creates an immune regulatory niche at the meningeal lymphatic vasculature near the cribriform plate

We report the use of single cell RNA sequencing of meningeal lymphatic endothelial cells near the cribriform plate in both naïve mice, and during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a mouse model of multiple sclerosis. By sorting for meningeal lymphatics near the cribriform plate, we identified that these lymphatic endothelial cells acquire an altered phenotype during neuroinflammation, where they become enriched in genes involved in leukocyte crosstalk including adhesion molecules, antigen processing and presentation, and tolerance, thus becoming a unique site of immune regulation. Meningeal lymphatics near the cribriform plate were FACS sorted as Podoplanin+ CD31+ after excluding CD45+ leukocytes, doublets, and Ghost+ dead cells. Cells were pooled from 5 healthy mice and compared to pooled cells from 5 EAE mice.