background: to evaluate the effect of cyclosporin a (csa) and angiotensin ii (ang ii) on cytosolic calcium levels in cultured human gingival fibroblasts (hgfs). materials and methods: healthy gingival samples from six volunteers were obtained, and primary hgfs were cultured. cell viability and proliferation assay were performed to identify the ideal concentrations of csa and ang ii. cytosolic c...

BACKGROUND Although fibroblast-to-myocyte electrical coupling is experimentally suggested, electrophysiology of cardiac fibroblasts is not as well established as contractile cardiac myocytes. The present study was therefore designed to characterize ion channels in cultured human cardiac fibroblasts. METHODS AND FINDINGS A whole-cell patch voltage clamp technique and RT-PCR were employed to de...

Human fibroblasts and leukocytes produce interferons which may be distinguished by their antigenic and species specificity as well as by their molecular weight distributions. To elucidate the basis for these differences, we isolated mRNA from induced human fibroblasts and lymphoblastoid (Namalva) cells and studied the products of translation in Xenopus laevis oocytes. The mRNA from the respecti...

BACKGROUND/AIM Mycophenolate mofetil could be a useful antiproliferative drug in glaucoma filtering surgery. In this study the authors set out to investigate whether growth inhibition of mycophenolate mofetil on human Tenon fibroblasts is mediated by guanosine depletion. METHODS Cultured human Tenon fibroblasts were incubated in various concentrations of mycophenolate mofetil with and without...

AIM The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ethanol and hyaluronic acid (HA) on cell survival and apoptosis in cultured human skin fibroblasts. Regarding the mechanism of ethanol action on human skin fibroblasts, we investigated cell viability and apoptosis, expression of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), and the influence of HA on those processes. MATERIALS AND METHODS Studies were co...

BACKGROUND All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) stimulates elastin synthesis by lung fibroblasts and induces alveolar regeneration in animal models of pulmonary emphysema. However, ATRA treatment has had disappointing results in human emphysema. It was hypothesised that a defect in the ATRA signalling pathway contributes to the defect of alveolar repair in the human emphysematous lung. METHODS Fibr...

RATIONALE Cardiac fibrosis contributes to pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation (AF), which is the most commonly sustained arrhythmia and a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Although it has been suggested that Ca(2+) signals are involved in fibrosis promotion, the molecular basis of Ca(2+) signaling mechanisms and how Ca(2+) signals contribute to fibrogenesis remain unknown. OBJECTIVE To ...

Senescence is a highly regulated process that limits cellular replication by enforcing a G1 arrest in response to various stimuli. Replicative senescence occurs in response to telomeric DNA erosion, and telomerase expression can offset replicative senescence leading to immortalization of many human cells. Limited data exists regarding changes of microRNA (miRNA) expression during senescence in ...