Tongue immune compartment analysis reveals spatial macrophage heterogeneity

The tongue is a unique muscular organ situated in the oral cavity where it is involved in taste sensation, mastication and articulation. As a barrier organ, which is constantly exposed to environmental pathogens, the tongue is expected to host an immune cell network ensuring local immune defence. However, the composition and the transcriptional landscape of the tongue immune system are currently not completely defined. Here we characterised the tissue-resident immune compartment of the murine tongue during development, health and disease, combining single cell RNA-sequencing with in situ immunophenotyping. We identified distinct local immune cell populations and described two specific subsets of tongue-resident macrophages occupying discrete anatomical niches. Cx3cr1+ macrophages were located specifically in the highly innervated lamina propria beneath the tongue epidermis and at times in close proximity to fungiform papillae. Folr2+ macrophages were detected in deeper muscular tissue. The two macrophage subsets originate from a common proliferative precursor during early postnatal development and responded differently to systemic LPS in vivo. Our description of the under-investigated tongue immune system sets a starting point to facilitate research on tongue immune-physiology and pathology including cancer and taste disorders.

• Publication year

  2022

• Venue

  bioRxiv

• Publication date

  2022-02-10

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1101/2022.02.09.479699PMID 35749158PMCID 9232218
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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