Fig. 7: Schematic representation summarizing our findings: peri-TEB fibroblasts are recruited by the growing epithelium from preadipocytes in the fat pad.
From: Contractile fibroblasts form a transient niche for the branching mammary epithelium
A schematic representation of our findings. Upper panel: The mammary stroma comprises 5 clusters of fibroblasts with distinct spatial locations: peri-TEB fibroblasts surround the neck of TEBs, periductal fibroblasts envelope the ducts, interstitial progenitors reside in collagenous fat pad septae, AREGs dwell in blood vessel stroma, and preadipocytes are scattered between adipocytes. Lower panel: Our lineage tracing experiments starting from peri-TEB fibroblasts (with Acta2-CreERT2; in green) or from preadipocytes (with Fgf10-CreERT2; in red) suggest that preadipocytes are recruited by the TEBs and activated into the transient peri-TEB state, then differentiate into periductal fibroblasts and later also into preadipocytes and adipocytes (black arrows).
