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A major pathogenic feature of fibrotic diseases is the excessive and disorganized deposition of collagens. This results from changes in both synthetic and degradative pathways. The posttranslational hydroxylation of proline to hydroxyproline and the relative abundance of hyd ...

Morphological methods can provide valuable spatial information about the development and progression of fibrosis, as well as facilitating efficient assessment of the response to interventions. Morphologically based techniques such as immunohistochemistry and in situ hy ...

The transforming growth factor (TGF)-βs are essential in pre- and postnatal development, differentiation and morphogenesis of higher organisms. Quantitation of the levels of TGF-β synthesis, secretion, and activation are crucial for grasping the mechanisms that control these ev ...

Regulation of gene expression is a complex process that can be controlled at several steps, including transcription, pre-mRNA splicing and export, mRNA stability, translation, protein modification, and protein half-life. Because transcriptional regulation often involves D ...

The excess accumulation of type I collagen within tissues leads to organ dysfunction and occurs as a result of an imbalance between synthesis and degradation. This chapter outlines several methods to assess the in vitro production of type I collagen that are employed in our laboratory. We descr ...

Primary fibroblasts represent a heterogeneous population of cells that can be separated into subsets on the basis of cell surface markers such as Thy-1. Deriving fibroblasts initially involves obtaining tissue explants from tissues such as the lung, heart, cornea, skin, and orbit. The tis ...

Stellate cells are principal producers of extracellular matrix proteins in the liver and play a major role in the development of liver fibrosis. Molecular basis of the cell activation has therefore been analyzed intensively during the past decade. Proteomics analysis is one of the most powe ...

The pathogenesis of liver fibrosis has evolved dramatically in recent years. Hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) have been recognized as the main fibrogenic cells in the injured liver, and key fibrogenic cytokines have been identified. We propose the use of DNA microarrays to study changes in gene e ...

Microarray technology allows the investigator to examine the simultaneous expression of thousands of genes in a given cell or tissue. Such experiments that probe tens of thousands of genes produce immense amounts of information. In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the avail ...

Increasing evidence suggests that non-sex-linked genetic factors play a role in determining both susceptibility to, and progression of, liver fibrosis. The elucidation of these factors will have many potential benefits in the management of patients with chronic liver disease. A vari ...

Many people are exposed to environmental risk factors for fibrosis, yet only a subset go on to develop disease. It is likely that a number of tissue-specific disease genes determine the path an individual will follow upon exposure to an environmental agent, and that individuals who carry certain c ...

A collagen network, composed largely of type I and III fibrillar collagens, is found in the heart’s interstitial space. This network has multiple functions, including the preservation of tissue architecture and chamber geometry. Given its tensile strength, type I collagen is a major deter ...

Most of the present knowledge on pathomechanism of renal fibrosis is based on experimental studies with laboratory animals. Today, a variety of genetic and inducible animal models that mimic primary causes of human disease such as diabetes mellitus, glomerulonephritis, or lupus eryth ...

In general, there are two types of animal models: natural and experimental. Because there are no natural models for pulmonary fibrosis, an experimental model that reproduces key aspects of the human disease would be useful for the study of this form of lung disease, the natural history of which is not a ...

Animal models of hepatic fibrosis provide a means to study the cell and molecular mediators of fibrosis in a serial manner during both progression and recovery. Several approaches to induction of fibrosis have been described. Of these, CCl4 intoxication in rats and mice is probably the most wid ...

Wound healing in adult mammals proceeds by a series of overlapping highly coordinated events. Dermal wound repair commences with the arrest of hemorrhage followed by an inflammatory response, re-epithelialization of the wound, and formation of granulation tissue within the wound sp ...

Megakaryocytes in adult human bone marrow are estimated to constitute approx 0.4% of the total marrow cells (1), and our experience suggests that fewer than 0.5% of low-density nucleated murine bone marrow cells express the megakaryocyte-lineage marker CD41 (integrin αIIb). Historical ...

The separation of mixtures of proteins by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) is a technique that is widely used—and, indeed, this technique underlies many of the assays and analyses that are described in this book. While SDS-PAGE is routine in many labs, a number of issues requi ...

The fibrinogen receptor on platelets is glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa, also known as αIIbβ3. This receptor can bind to immobilized fibrinogen in its resting state. Binding to soluble fibrinogen, however, requires activation of the receptor. This can occur due to inside-out signaling in resp ...

The use of radioactive 2-methylthio-ADP (2MeS-ADP) to study ADP receptors on platelets was first developed by MacFarlane et al. (1) in 1983. However, this technique may not have initially been pursued by many groups because of the relative paucity of studies into platelet ADP receptors and the abs ...