Journal
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
Volume 4, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/srep06383
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- The Royal Physiographic Society
- Swedish Research Counsel [11550]
- Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation
- Kock's Foundation
- Lars Hiertas Memorial Foundation
- Osterlund's Foundation
- Gyllenstierna Krapperup's Foundation
- The Sandberg Foundation
- Faculty of Medicine, Lund University
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The ECM exerts great effects on cells, and changed composition may therefore have profound impact. Small leucine-rich proteoglycans, e. g. fibromodulin, are essential in collagen assembly. Our aim was to investigate the role of fibromodulin in healthy and fibrotic lung parenchyma, theorizing that fibromodulin-deficient animals would be protected against fibrosis. Repeated subcutaneous bleomycin-injections were given to wild type and fibromodulin-deficient mice, inducing pulmonary fibrosis. Development of fibrosis, ECM composition, cell turnover and inflammatory responses were investigated. Fibromodulin-deficient animals were not protected from fibrosis, but the composition of the matrix was affected, with decreased Collagen I in fibromodulin-deficient animals, both in controls (0.07 +/- 0.04% vs. 0.18 +/- 0.07% tissue area) and after bleomycin (0.37 +/- 0.16% vs. 0.61 +/- 0.21% tissue area). Biglycan was increased in fibromodulin-deficient animals, whereas decorin was decreased. Furthermore, bleomycin increased cell turnover in wild type, but only proliferation in fibromodulin-deficient animals, resulting in hyperplasia. In addition, the bleomycin-induced immune response was affected in fibromodulin-deficient animals. We thus conclude that fibromodulin has a profound effect on ECM, both in healthy and fibrotic lung parenchyma, and may be providing a permissive microenvironment affecting cell turnover. Furthermore, this study highlights the need to acknowledge specific ECM components, when assessing tissue properties and ultimately cell behaviour.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available