Spatial Mapping of Fibroblast Distribution and Heterogeneity Reveals Striking Sex-Specific Patterns of Hypertension-Induced Cardiac Fibrosis

Cardiac fibrosis is a key antecedent for the development of heart failure. While the impact of fibrosis on heart function has been studied for many decades, the precise cellular and molecular drivers of fibrosis are only now beginning to be understood. Indeed, with clinical and epidemiological data pointing to sex-differences in heart failure and fibrosis development, little is known of the sex-specific cellular and molecular mechanisms driving cardiac pathology.