Substrate stiffness engineered to replicate disease conditions influence senescence and fibrotic responses in primary lung fibroblasts.

ABSTRACT: In fibrosis remodelling of ECM leads to changes in composition and stiffness. Such changes can have a major impact on cell functions including proliferation, secretory profile and differentiation. Several studies have reported that fibrosis is characterised by increased senescence and accumulating evidence suggests that changes to the ECM including altered composition and increased stiffness may contribute to premature cellular senescence. This study investigated if increased stiffness could modulate markers of senescence and/or fibrosis in primary human lung fibroblasts. Using hydrogels representing stiffnesses that fall within healthy and fibrotic ranges, we cultured primary fibroblasts from non-diseased lung tissue on top of these hydrogels for up to 7 days before assessing senescence a

SUBMITTER: Blokland KEC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9673045 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature