title: Cardiac fibroblasts: friend or foe?
abstract: Cardiac function is determined by the dynamic interaction of various cell types and the extracellular matrix that composes the heart. This interaction varies with the stage of development and the degree and duration of mechanical, chemical, and electrical signals between the various cell types and the ECM. Understanding how these complex signals interact at the molecular, cellular, and organ levels is critical to understanding the function of the heart under a variety of physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Quantitative approaches, both in vivo and in vitro, are essential to understand the dynamic interaction of mechanical, chemical, and electrical stimuli that govern cardiac function. The fibroblast can thus be a friend in normal function or a foe in pathophysiological conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and Anatomy, School of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA.
authors.forename: Troy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Baudino
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Carver
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Giles
authors.forename: Thomas K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Borg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000502:physiology*; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D032383:Myocytes, Cardiac / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology