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Cystic Fibroblasts

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Fibroblasts are mesenchymal cells that play an important role in the wound healing process. These cells are responsible for releasing inflammatory agents that recruit white blood cells to areas of damaged tissue. Fibroblasts also respond to these chemicals and differentiate into myofibroblasts. These myofibroblasts are characterized by their up-regulated rate of extracellular matrix component production and their ability to physically manipulate the extracellular matrix. When the wound healing process becomes unregulated, this results in what is referred to as a fibrotic response (Kendall). As a result fibrosis, or the thickening and scarring of connective tissues, occurs. Fibrosis is the excess deposition of ECM components like collagen and …show more content…

According to Guggino, cells have chloride ion channels called Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Regulators (CFTR) on the cell membrane. These channels interact with other channels such as the sodium ion channels to regulate molecular movement in and out of the cell. When mRNA is not translated properly by ribosomes, tRNA creates a defective CFTR. When the CFTR does not function properly it affects other channels and causes them to stop working as well. For example, when there are low concentrations of salt in the cell and high concentrations outside, the defective CFTR will not open its gates to allow chloride ions into the cell. This also means that sodium channels do not open to allow sodium ions in, which results in the salts being stuck outside the cell. This is one of the reasons why cystic fibrosis patients tend to have higher concentration of salt in their sweat. The dysfunction of these ion channels causes the thick mucus that is unique to cystic …show more content…

The first experiment we ran was the α-smooth muscle actin (asma) stain. The purpose of this stain was to use a primary and secondary antibody to indirectly stain the microfilaments that characterize myofibroblasts. Under a fluorescent microscope, this will provide a visual representation of how many fibroblasts in our samples had differentiated into myofibroblasts. To set up for this experiment, fibroblasts were plated on coverslips and incubated for seven days, to reach 100% confluency, in either the presence or absence of allopurinol. After one week the coverslips were fixed with methanol and the first antibody, a mouse anti-human asma, was applied onto the coverslip and kept refrigerated overnight. The next day the coverslips were rinsed with PBS, all rinses are performed with PBS, and the second antibody, a goat anti-mouse rhodamine, was applied to the coverslips for thirty minutes in a dark place. Lastly, after another rinse, a DAPI counterstain, which would interact with the DNA in the nucleus of every fibroblast to make them visible, was applied for fifteen minutes and rinsed. Then the coverslips were mounted onto slides with glycerol and looked at under the fluorescent microscope. The nuclei of all of the cells lit up blue and the microfilaments in the differentiated fibroblasts, myofibroblasts, lit up bright

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