Fig. 1
Atlas of retinal cell types in different diabetic stages. A Overview of the experimental strategy. Retinal cells were isolated from 2 normal SD rats and 3 diabetic rats with 2, 4 and 8 weeks of diabetes mellitus (for a detailed isolation protocol, see the Methods section). Rods and cones convert light stimulation into chemical signals and transmit the information to bipolar cells (BCs). BCs connect visual cells and ganglion cells. In addition, there are glial cells (Müller cells, microglia), horizontal cells (HCs), amniotic cells (ACs), vascular endothelial cells and pericytes. The retina is divided into different layers from the outside to the inside: the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), outer nuclear layer (ONL), outer plexiform layer (OPL), INL, IPL, and GCL. The BRB is composed of vascular endothelial cells, pericytes and the basement membrane, which ensures the stability of the internal environment of the eye. Blood-derived macrophages can be seen in the blood vessels. B UMAP plot showing different cell types. Cells assigned to the same cluster are similarly colored. AC amacrine cell, HC horizontal cell, EC endothelial cell, MG microglial cell, BC bipolar cell. C Violin plot showing the expression of marker genes in each cell type. D Circular heatmap showing the markers for each cell type. High expression is in red, and low expression is in blue. E Bubble plot showing the markers of each subcluster of BCs. The size of each circle is proportional to the percentage of the gene expression. High expression is in red, and low expression is in blue. F Ridge plot showing the expression of markers of microglia (C1qa, Aif1), blood-derived macrophages (Cxcr4, Cd53) and perivascular macrophages (Cd163) in macrophages. G UMAP plot showing the numbers of DEGs in the cells of normal and diabetic rats. Color scale: red, large number of DEGs; gray, small number of DEGs. H Cell–cell communication between nonneuronal cells in inflammation-related pathways. The size of the circle and the thickness of the line represent the strength of communication. The direction of the arrow is consistent with the direction of the signal from the sender to the receiver