Cell-Populated Collagen Lattice Models.

Investigation of cell function is often hampered by the complexity of the tissue context. This problem is circumvented by isolating cells from tissues and analyzing their behavior in culture. Most cell types are cultured as monolayers on planar, rigid Petri dishes, an environment that does not reflect the spatial, three-dimensional cellular environment in vivo.

Signalling and regulation of collagen I synthesis by ET-1 and TGF-beta1.

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) plays an important role in tissue remodelling and fibrogenesis by inducing synthesis of collagen I via protein kinase C (PKC). ET-1 signals are transduced by two receptor subtypes, the ETA- and ETB-receptors which activate different Galpha proteins. Here, we investigated the expression of both ET-receptor subtypes in human primary dermal fibroblasts and demonstrated that the ETA-receptor is the major ET-receptor subtype expressed.