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REVIEW article

Front. Cardiovasc. Med.

Sec. Cardiovascular Biologics and Regenerative Medicine

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1570582

Macrophages and Cardiac Lesion in Zebrafish: What Can Single-cell RNA Sequencing Reveal?

Provisionally accepted
Rebeca Bosso Santos Luz Rebeca Bosso Santos Luz 1André Guilherme Portela Paula André Guilherme Portela Paula 1Andressa Pacheco Czaikovski Andressa Pacheco Czaikovski 1Bruno Sime Ferreira Nunes Bruno Sime Ferreira Nunes 1Jordana Dinora De Lima Jordana Dinora De Lima 1Lais Cavalieri Paredes Lais Cavalieri Paredes 2Thais Sibioni Berti Bastos Thais Sibioni Berti Bastos 1Rebecca Richardson Rebecca Richardson 3Tarcio Teodoro Braga Tarcio Teodoro Braga 1*
  • 1 Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil
  • 2 University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
  • 3 University of Bristol, Bristol, England, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Unlike mammals, zebrafish can regenerate their heart after cardiac insult. There are several ways to perform cardiac injury in zebrafish, but cryoinjury most closely resembles human myocardial infarction (MI). Studies demonstrated that macrophages are essential cells from the beginning to later stages of cardiac injury throughout the regenerative process in zebrafish.These cells have phenotypic plasticity; hence, overly sensitive techniques, such as single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNAseq), are essential for uncovering the phenotype needed for zebrafish cardiac injury regeneration, from inflammatory profile initiation to scar resolution. This technique enables the RNA sequencing of individual cells, thus generating clusters of cells with similar gene expression and allowing the study of a particular cell population. Therefore, in this review, we focused on discussing data obtained by scRNAseq of macrophages in the context of cardiac injury. We found that from 1 to 7 days post-injury (dpi), macrophages are present with inflammatory and reparative functions in either cryoinjury or ventricular resection. At 14 dpi, there were differences between the injury models, especially in the expression profile of inflammatory cytokines, and studies with later time points are needed to understand the gene expression that enrolls the collagen scar resorption dynamic.

    Keywords: Zebrafish Macrophages at Cardiac Regeneration zebrafish, Macrophages, Cryoinjury, cardiac resection, Regeneration, Fibrosis, repair, single-cell RNA sequencing

    Received: 03 Feb 2025; Accepted: 26 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Luz, Paula, Czaikovski, Nunes, De Lima, Paredes, Bastos, Richardson and Braga. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Tarcio Teodoro Braga, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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