Evidence mapPaperPMID 42136644Full record

ArticleFrontiers in immunology2026

Single cell transcriptomic analysis reveals pathogenic cell heterogeneity and candidate inflammatory-associated markers in STZ-induced diabetic mouse retina.

Shuai Ouyang, Jingwen Wang, Xiaolan Du, Shouyue Zhang, Shijun Han, Xiaotong Xu, Beichen Ren, Weihong Yu

Abstract read
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Article in Frontiers in immunology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Shuai Ouyang *Department of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Jingwen Wang *Department of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Xiaolan Du *Department of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Shouyue Zhang *Department of Occupational Health and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China.
Shijun HanState Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Optometry and Visual Science, Eye Hospital, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.
Xiaotong XuDepartment of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Beichen RenDepartment of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.
Weihong YuDepartment of Ophthalmology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is driven by chronic hyperglycemia and involves coordinated vascular, inflammatory, and neuroglial dysfunction. Müller glia are central to retinal homeostasis, yet their cell-state heterogeneity and inflammatory response programs in DR mice remain incompletely characterized at single-cell resolution. Methods: We reanalyzed a public scRNA-seq dataset of STZ-induced diabetic mouse retinas to characterize retinal cell populations and Müller glial states through clustering, perturbation, trajectory, functional enrichment, and co-expression network analyses, with selected targets further validated by Western blot. Results: Integration and clustering of the scRNA-seq dataset identified the major retinal cell types as well as four distinct Müller glial subpopulations. Among annotated retinal cell populations, Müller glia showed the strongest transcriptional perturbation in the STZ group, indicating that they are among the most transcriptionally responsive retinal cell types under diabetic stress. Pseudotime analysis supported the presence of branch-dependent transcriptional programs among Müller subclusters and suggested that STZ conditions were associated with preferential progression toward a Müller substate enriched for photoreceptor-associated transcripts. Functional enrichment analysis showed that different Müller glial subclusters were associated with distinct biological processes, while sharing activation of inflammatory-response programs, and highlighted Conclusion: We delineated the transcriptional heterogeneity of Müller glia and identified candidate state-associated modules and regulators linked to diabetic retinal stress responses. These findings support an active role for Müller glia in diabetic retinal remodeling through inflammatory, structural, and neuron-interactive programs, and provide a basis for future mechanistic and translational investigation of Müller glia-mediated pathology in diabetic retinopathy.

Indexed as

Diabetes Mellitus, ExperimentalDiabetic RetinopathyEpendymoglial CellsRetinaTranscriptomeAnimalsBiomarkersGene Expression ProfilingGene Regulatory NetworksInflammationMaleMiceMice, Inbred C57BLSingle-Cell AnalysisSingle-Cell Gene Expression AnalysisBiomarkerscell heterogeneitydiabetic retinopathyinflammationretinal Müller glial cellsingle-cell transcriptomictranscriptional perturbation

Identifiers

PMID42136644
PMCPMC13168181

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