scRNA-seq of the intestine reveals the key role of mast cells in early gut dysfunction associated with acute pancreatitis

Figure 4 Increased number of intestinal stem cells responsible for regeneration of enterocytes in the early stages of acute pancreatitis. A: Representative genes in intestinal stem cells (ISCs), including Lgr5, Cd44, Cdk8, and Sox9, as demonstrated by the scRNA-seq data; B: Protein expression of CD44 in the AP1, AP2, and normal groups in the small intestine; C: Selected dysregulated genes in ISCs, including Mki67, Cdk1, Cdk4, Cdk2ap2, Cdk16, Ccnd1, and Pcna; D: Cell cycle analysis of ISCs across each group; E: Representative enriched gene ontology (GO) terms for differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in ISCs from the AP1 and normal groups on the basis of scRNA-seq data; F: Representative enriched GO terms for DEGs in ISCs from the AP2 and AP1 groups on the basis of scRNA-seq data; G: UMAP plot showing four ISC subclusters in the intestine; H: Selected genes in ISC subclusters, including Mki67, Cdk1, Cdk4, Cdk16, Ccnd1, Ascl2, Il11ra1, and Slc2a5. GO: Gene ontology; ISC: Intestinal stem cell. ^aP < 0.001.