Sources of myofibroblasts in liver fibrosis

Origin of myofibroblasts in liver fibrosis

Most chronic liver diseases of all etiologies result in progressive liver fibrosis. Myofibroblasts produce the extracellular matrix, including type I collagen, which constitutes the fibrous scar in liver fibrosis. Normal liver has little type I collagen and no detectable myofibroblasts, but myofibroblasts appear early in experimental and clinical liver injury. The origin of the myofibroblast in...

Peribiliary myofibroblasts in biliary type liver fibrosis.

Biliary type liver fibrosis develops as part of the wound healing response to bile duct injury in chronic cholestatic liver diseases. The origin of myofibroblasts accumulating together with extracellular matrix around proliferating bile duct structures (referred to as ductular reaction) in the setting of cholestatic injury, has been investigated mostly in the rat bile duct ligation model. Evide...

Inactivation of myofibroblasts during regression of liver fibrosis

Hepatic fibrosis results from many chronic liver diseases, including hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), alcoholic liver disease and non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Hepatic fibrosis is the scar caused by deregulation of physiological wound healing and results in excessive production of extracellular matrix (ECM), mostly collagen type I. Myofibroblasts, which are not present ...

Myofibroblasts in schistosomal portal fibrosis of man.

Myofibroblasts, cells with intermediate features between smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts, have been described as an important cellular component of schistosomal portal fibrosis. The origin, distribution and fate of myofibroblasts were investigated by means of light, fluorescent, immunoenzymatic and ultrastructural techniques in wedge liver biopsies from 68 patients with the hepatosplenic fo...

Fibrosis, myofibroblasts, and atrial fibrillation.