Browsing by Subject "Fibroblasts"
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Item Alzheimer's Fibroblasts are More Susceptible to Oxidative Stress(2001-05-01) Marshall, Pamela L.; Neeraj Agarwal; Robert GracyMarshall, Pamela L., Alzheimer’s Fibroblasts Are More Susceptible to Oxidative Stress. Master’s of Science (Biomedical Sciences). May 2001. Recent evidence indicates that oxidative stress contributes to neuronal death in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In addition, it has been suggested that AD is a systemic illness in which the development of the disease is only visible in the brain. The aim of this research is to develop experimental procedures using a simple cell model, the fibroblast, to determine if proteins derived from AD skin fibroblasts are more sensitive to oxidation by reactive oxygen species than non-AD cells, and to assess the ability of antioxidants to prevent this oxidative damage in AD fibroblasts. Preliminary findings suggest that changes in sensitivity are already detectable in fibroblasts from AD patients, probably as a consequence of genetic component as well as other risk factors. Therefore, this biochemical marker might have the potential for identifying individuals at risk for AD.Item FAK Inhibition Attenuates Corneal Fibroblast Differentiation In Vitro(MDPI, 2021-11-12) Yeung, Vincent; Sriram, Sriniwas; Tran, Jennifer A.; Guo, Xiaoqing; Hutcheon, Audrey E. K.; Zieske, James D.; Karamichos, Dimitrios; Ciolino, Joseph B.Corneal fibrosis (or scarring) occurs in response to ocular trauma or infection, and by reducing corneal transparency, it can lead to visual impairment and blindness. Studies highlight important roles for transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1 and -beta3 as modulators in corneal wound healing and fibrosis, leading to increased extracellular matrix (ECM) components and expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin (alphaSMA), a myofibroblast marker. In this study, human corneal fibroblasts (hCF) were cultured as a monolayer culture (2D) or on poly-transwell membranes to generate corneal stromal constructs (3D) that were treated with TGF-beta1, TGF-beta3, or TGF-beta1 + FAK inhibitor (FAKi). Results show that hCF 3D constructs treated with TGF-beta1 or TGF-beta3 impart distinct effects on genes involved in wound healing and fibrosis-ITGAV, ITGB1, SRC and ACTA2. Notably, in the 3D construct model, TGF-beta1 enhanced alphaSMA and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) protein expression, whereas TGF-beta3 did not. In addition, in both the hCF 2D cell and 3D construct models, we found that TGF-beta1 + FAKi attenuated TGF-beta1-mediated myofibroblast differentiation, as shown by abrogated alphaSMA expression. This study concludes that FAK signaling is important for the onset of TGF-beta1-mediated myofibroblast differentiation, and FAK inhibition may provide a novel beneficial therapeutic avenue to reduce corneal scarring.