Thioacetamide (TAA) can induce various types of cirrhosis in the rat, including bridging fibrosis, biliary fibrosis, perisinusoidal/pericellular fibrosis and centrilobular fibrosis, in which different populations of hepatic myofibroblasts (MFs) are involved. The hepatic MFs can be classified into 3 groups: (a) portal/septal MFs; (b) activated hepatic stellate cell myofibroblasts (HSC/MFs); and ...

Directing appropriate extracellular matrix remodeling is a key aim of regenerative medicine strategies. Thus, antifibrotic interfering RNA (RNAi) therapy with exogenous microRNA (miR)-29B was proposed as a method to modulate extracellular matrix remodeling following cutaneous injury. It was hypothesized that delivery of miR-29B from a collagen scaffold will efficiently modulate the extracellula...

In this report, we have shown that the standard laboratory diet administered to Psammomys obesus (sand rat) from Beni Abbes in Algeria, induced a non-insulin dependent diabetes, characterised by increase of body weight (p<0.001) as well as hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia and hypercholesterolemia. In cultured aortic smooth muscle cells (SMC) of sand rats, type I and type III collagen biosynthesi...

We have isolated and characterized collagen type VI from murine, canine, and nonhuman primate hearts. In the three species studied, collagen type I was the major collagenous component of the cardiac interstitium (801% of total collagen), whereas collagen type VI represented -5% of total collagen. To define the exact distribution of collagen type VI and its possible interactions with other compo...

We have isolated and characterized collagen type VI from murine, canine, and nonhuman primate hearts. In the three species studied, collagen type I was the major collagenous component of the cardiac interstitium (80% of total collagen), whereas collagen type VI represented approximately 5% of total collagen. To define the exact distribution of collagen type VI and its possible interactions with...

Previous studies have suggested that procollagen types I and III are the major collagenous gene products of cultured human skin fibroblasts. In this study the expression of 10 different genes, encoding the subunit polypeptides for collagen types I-VI, by human skin fibroblasts in culture was analyzed by molecular hybridizations. Northern transfer analysis demonstrated the presence of specific m...

Bladder hypertrophy is a general consequence of bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) and a typical phenomenon observed in clinical urologic diseases such as benign prostatic hyperplasia and neurogenic bladder. It is characterized by smooth muscle hyperplasia, altered extracellular matrix composition, and increased contractile function. Various growth factors are likely involved in hypertrophic path...

This study represents a systematic analysis of the distribution of collagen types in human atherosclerotic lesions. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded aortic tissues of 40 lesions from 16 different individuals ranging in age from 1 month to 84 years were examined immunohistochemically using antibodies to type I, III, IV, V, and VI collagens. Preembedding immunoelectron microscopy was used to sim...