Cross-species single-cell transcriptomic analysis of animal gastric antrum reveals intense porcine mucosal immunity.

As an important part of the stomach, gastric antrum secretes gastrin which can regulate acid secretion and gastric emptying. Although most cell types in the gastric antrum are identified, the comparison of cell composition and gene expression in the gastric antrum among different species are not explored. In this study, we collected antrum epithelial tissues from human, pig, rat and mouse for scRNA-seq and compared cell types and gene expression among species. In pig antral epithelium, we identified a novel cell cluster, which is marked by high expression of AQP5, F3, CLCA1 and RRAD. We also discovered that the porcine antral epithelium has stronger immune function than the other species. Further analysis revealed that this may be due to the insufficient function of porcine immune cells. Together, our results replenish the information of multiple species of gastric antral epithelium at the single cell level and provide resources for understanding the homeostasis maintenance and regeneration of gastric antrum epithelium.