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Reversal of myofibroblasts by amniotic membrane stromal extract
Author(s) -
Li Wei,
He Hua,
Chen YingTing,
Hayashida Yasutaka,
Tseng Scheffer C.G.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of cellular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 174
eISSN - 1097-4652
pISSN - 0021-9541
DOI - 10.1002/jcp.21345
Subject(s) - myofibroblast , stromal cell , mesenchymal stem cell , microbiology and biotechnology , stroma , biology , fibroblast , cellular differentiation , fibrosis , pathology , immunology , cell culture , cancer research , medicine , biochemistry , genetics , immunohistochemistry , gene
Myofibroblasts play an important role in morphogenesis, inflammation, and fibrosis in most tissues. The amniotic membrane stroma can maintain keratocytes in cultures and prevent them from differentiating into myofibroblasts. However, it is unknown whether the AM stroma can also reverse differentiated myofibroblasts. In this study, we found that amniotic membrane stromal cells (AMSCs), which adopted fibroblastic phenotype in vivo, quickly and completely differentiated into myofibroblasts during ex vivo culture in DMEM/FBS on plastic within 2 passages. When cultured on type I collagen, the myofibroblasts maintained their phenotype, however, when these myofibroblasts were re‐seeded onto a cryopreserved amniotic membrane stromal surface, they reversed to the fibroblast phenotype. Moreover, we found that the amniotic membrane stromal extract not only helps maintain primary AMSCs fibroblastic phenotype in vitro, but also can reverse differentiated myofibroblasts back to fibroblasts. This reversal was not coupled with cell proliferation. We concluded that the amniotic membrane stroma contains soluble factors that can regulate the mesenchymal cell differentiation. Further investigation into the identity of these factors and the control mechanisms may unravel a new scar‐reversing strategy. J. Cell. Physiol. 215: 657–664, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.