While meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) is widely recognized as a major cause of evaporative dry eye disease, little is known about normal gland differentiation and lipid synthesis or the mechanism underlying gland atrophy and abnormal lipid secretion. The purpose of this study was to use single-cell and spatial transcriptomics to probe changes in cell composition, differentiation, and gene expression associated with two murine models of MGD: age-related gland atrophy in wild-type mice and altered meibum quality in acyl-CoA wax alcohol acyltransferase 2 (Awat2) knockout (KO) mice. Methods: Young (6 month) and old (22 month) wild type, C57Bl/6 mice and young (3 month) and old (13 month) Awat2 KO mice were used in these studies. For single-cell analysis, the tarsal plate was dissected from the upper and lower eyelids, and single cells isolated and submitted to the UCI Genomic Core, while for the spatial analysis frozen tissue sections were shipped to Resolve Biosciences on dry ice and sections probed in duplicate using a meibomian gland specific, 100 gene Molecular Chartography panel.

中文翻译：

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年龄和功能障碍对睑板腺种群动态的影响


虽然睑板腺功能障碍 （MGD） 被广泛认为是蒸发性干眼症的主要原因，但人们对正常的腺体分化和脂质合成或腺体萎缩和脂质分泌异常的机制知之甚少。本研究的目的是使用单细胞和空间转录组学来探测与两种 MGD 小鼠模型相关的细胞组成、分化和基因表达的变化：野生型小鼠的年龄相关性腺体萎缩和酰基辅酶 A 蜡醇酰基转移酶 2 （Awat2） 敲除 （KO） 小鼠的睑脂质量改变。方法：在这些研究中，使用了年轻 （6 个月） 和老年 （22 个月） 野生型 C57Bl/6 小鼠以及年轻 （3 个月） 和老年 （13 个月） Awat2 KO 小鼠。对于单细胞分析，从上下眼睑解剖睑板，分离单细胞并提交给 UCI 基因组核心，而对于空间分析，将冷冻组织切片运送到 Resolve Biosciences，使用睑板腺特异性 100 基因分子图表面板一式两份探测切片。