Figure 6
From: An Improved Method of Maintaining Primary Murine Cardiac Fibroblasts in Two-Dimensional Cell Culture
A schematic depicting the various factors affecting the fibroblast phenotype in vitro. Herein we summarize our main findings along with other known elements which influence primary cardiac fibroblast activation in vitro. We suggest that α-SMA is an ever-present marker on the cardiac fibroblast-myofibroblast spectrum, and that its incorporation in myofibroblast stress fibers is a key component of defining the activated phenotype. Previous studies on conventional plastic tissue culture plates have confirmed that passaging45, hyperglycemic-like conditions67, and treatment with ROS and hypertrophic agents indeed activate the myofibroblast phenotype and we conclude that excess serum also contributes to this activation.
