The effect of insulin, wheat germ agglutinin (WGA), peanut agglutinin (PNA) and concanavalin A (ConA) on [3H]glucosamine incorporation into pericellular glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) was investigated in two lines of cultured human dermal fibroblasts. Insulin and WGA stimulated [3H]glucosamine incorporation into hyaluronic acid (HA) and heparan sulphate (HS) without any alteration of chondroitin sul...

Stromal cells such as fibroblasts play an important role in defining tissue-specific responses during the resolution of inflammation. We hypothesized that this involves tissue-specific regulation of glucocorticoids, mediated via differential regulation of the enzyme 11beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11beta-HSD1). Expression, activity and function of 11beta-HSD1 was assessed in matched...

OBJECTIVE The monophasic pulsed microcurrent is used to promote wound healing, and galvanotaxis regulation has been reported as one of the active mechanisms in the promotion of tissue repair with monophasic pulsed microcurrent. However, the optimum monophasic pulsed microcurrent parameters and intracellular changes caused by the monophasic pulsed microcurrent have not been elucidated in human d...

BACKGROUND Keloid is a benign dermal tumor characterized by proliferation of dermal fibroblasts and overproduction of extracellular matrix (ECM). Nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) plays an important role in regulation of inflammation, immune response and cell proliferation. Activation of the NF-kappaB pathway is thought to be closely linked to abnormal cell proliferation and ECM production in k...

Collagenase-3 (matrix metalloproteinase-13, MMP-13) is a recently identified human MMP with an exceptionally wide substrate specificity and restricted tissue-specific expression. Here we show that MMP-13 expression is induced in normal human skin fibroblasts cultured within three-dimensional collagen gel resulting in production and proteolytic activation of MMP-13. Induction of MMP-13 mRNAs by ...

Basement membrane (BM) disruption and dermal changes (elastosis, collagenolysis, vascular ectasia) have been reported in melasma. Although ultraviolet (UV) irradiation can induce these changes, UV is not always necessary for melasma development. Cadherin 11 (CDH11), which is upregulated in some melasma patients, has previously been shown to stimulate melanogenesis. Because CDH11 action requires...

Proliferation of dermal fibroblasts is crucial for the maintenance of skin. The small Rho GTPase, Rac1, has been identified as a key transducer of proliferative signals in various cell types, but in normal human dermal fibroblasts its significance to cell growth control has not been studied. In this study, we applied the method of RNA interference to suppress endogenous Rac1 expression and exam...

The cause of fibrotic disease is unknown. We have undertaken transcriptional profiling of dermal fibroblasts cultured from patients with the fibrotic disease scleroderma (systemic sclerosis, SSc) to identify genes overexpressed in fibrosis and have explored their contribution to the fibrotic phenotype. Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF, CCN2), a member of the CCN family of proteins, is over...

Dermal fibroblasts are required for skin wound repair; they migrate into the wound bed, proliferate, synthesize extracellular matrix components and contract the wound. Although fibroblasts express beta2-adrenergic receptors (beta2-AR) and cutaneous keratinocytes can synthesize beta-AR agonists (catecholamines), the functional significance of this hormonal mediator network in the skin has not be...

Medical device implants are drawing increasing amounts of interest from modern medical practitioners. However, this attention is not evenly spread across all such devices; most of these implantable devices can cause adverse reactions such as inflammation, fibrosis, thrombosis, and infection. In this work, the biocompatibility of silicone rubber (SR) was improved through carbon (C) ion implantat...