Abstract
Obesity drives significant changes in adipose tissue that precede development of tissue and systemic insulin resistance. Immune cell infiltration and inflammation are known contributors to these changes but there is limited understanding of their spatial context tissue-wide. We sought to identify the spatial patterning of adipose tissue immune cells in obesity. We collected epididymal adipose tissue from mice in a time course of diet-induced obesity, integrating spatial transcriptomics and single-cell RNA-sequencing to identify dominant cell type signatures preserved in their anatomical context. Our integrated analyses enable deconvolution of cell types at spatial data spots, quantitation of gene expression patterns at spots throughout adipose tissue, cell type network analysis, and investigation of ligand-receptor colocalization. Our data support increased innate immune cell quantity with tissue-wide interspersion and dampened adaptive immune cell signatures with obesity. Furthermore, network analyses identify increased heterogeneity within all major immune cell types, suggesting patterning consistent with increased numbers of subtypes. By describing the position-specific cellular composition of adipose tissue in mice for the first time, we provide a framework for better understanding cell cooperation toward emergence of multicellular tissue function.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.