title: The characteristics of activated portal fibroblasts/myofibroblasts in liver fibrosis.
abstract: Liver fibrosis results from chronic injury of hepatocytes and activation of Collagen Type I producing myofibroblasts that produce fibrous scar in liver fibrosis. Myofibroblasts are not present in the normal liver but rapidly appear early in experimental and clinical liver injury. The origin of the myofibroblast in liver fibrosis is still unresolved. The possibilities include activation of liver resident cells including portal fibroblasts, hepatic stellate cells, mesenchymal progenitor cells, and fibrocytes recruited from the bone marrow. It is considered that hepatic stellate cells and portal fibroblasts are the major source of hepatic myofibroblasts. In fact, the origin of myofibroblasts differs significantly for chronic liver diseases of different etiologies, such as cholestatic liver disease or hepatotoxic liver disease. Depending on etiology of hepatic injury, the fibrogenic foci might initiate within the hepatic lobule as seen in chronic hepatitis, or primarily affect the portal areas as in most biliary diseases. It has been suggested that activated portal fibroblasts/myofibroblasts work as "myofibroblasts for cholangiocytes" while hepatic stellate cells work as "myofibroblast for hepatocytes". This review will focus on our current understanding of the activated portal fibroblasts/myofibroblasts in cholestatic liver fibrosis.
authors: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA; Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA.
authors: Daniel
authors: D
authors: Karin
authors: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA; Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA; Department of Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA.
authors: Yukinori
authors: Y
authors: Koyama
authors: Department of Medicine, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Brenner
authors: Department of Surgery, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92093, USA. Electronic address: tkisseleva@ucsd.edu.
authors: Tatiana
authors: T
authors: Kisseleva
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000473:pathology*; D055166:Hepatic Stellate Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology*; D008103:Liver Cirrhosis / Q000473:pathology*; D058628:Myofibroblasts / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Portal fibroblasts; bile duct ligation; cholestatic liver fibrosis; myofibroblasts