Eugene Bell1, Bodil Ivarsson1, Charlotte Merrill1
1Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
Tóm tắt
Fibroblasts can condense a hydrated collagen lattice to a tissue-like structure 1/28th the area of the starting gel in 24 hr. The rate of the process can be regulated by varying the protein content of the lattice, the cell number, or the concentration of an inhibitor such as Colcemid. Fibroblasts of high population doubling level propagated in vitro, which have left the cell cycle, can carry out the contraction at least as efficiently as cycling cells. The potential uses of the system as an immunologically tolerated "tissue" for wound healing and as a model for studying fibroblast function are discussed.
