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Myofibroblasts may interfere with the propagation of electrical signals [5] controlling heart rhythm, [6] leading to arrhythmia in both patients who have suffered a heart attack and in foetuses. Ursodiol is a promising drug for this condition. [7]
Histopathologically, FMTs consist of neoplastic connective tissue cells which have differented into cells that have microscopic appearances resembling fibroblasts and/or myofibroblasts. The fibroblastic cells are characterized as spindle-shaped cells with inconspicuous nucleoli that express vimentin , an intracellular protein typically found in ...
Fibroblasts play a crucial role in responding to injury, such as a myocardial infarction. Following injury, fibroblasts can become activated and turn into myofibroblasts – cells which exhibit behaviour somewhere between a fibroblast (generating extracellular matrix) and a smooth muscle cell (ability to contract). In this capacity, fibroblasts ...
Fibroblasts can also migrate slowly over substratum as individual cells, again in contrast to epithelial cells. While epithelial cells form the lining of body structures, fibroblasts and related connective tissues sculpt the "bulk" of an organism. The life span of a fibroblast, as measured in chick embryos, is 57 ± 3 days. [4]
Cardiac fibrosis commonly refers to the excess deposition of extracellular matrix in the cardiac muscle, but the term may also refer to an abnormal thickening of the heart valves due to inappropriate proliferation of cardiac fibroblasts. [1] Fibrotic cardiac muscle is stiffer and less compliant and is seen in the progression to heart failure.
Over time, however, as the heart undergoes ongoing remodeling, it becomes less elliptical and more spherical. Ventricular mass and volume increase, which together adversely affect cardiac function. Eventually, diastolic function, or the heart's ability to relax between contractions may become impaired, further causing decline. [7]
The normal fibroblast cells receive a hormone signal from nearby cancer cells, indicating that it must become activated, and is thus classed as a CAF. [2] It is unclear why normal fibroblasts transition into CAFs but it has been found that by adding transforming growth factor-β to fibroblasts in culture they start to display features of CAFs. [26]
As granulation tissue matures, the fibroblasts produce less collagen and become more spindly in appearance. They begin to produce the much stronger type I collagen. Some of the fibroblasts mature into myofibroblasts which contain the same type of actin found in smooth muscle, which enables them to contract and reduce the size of the wound.