Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology (Jul 2021)

Fibroblasts: Heterogeneous Cells With Potential in Regenerative Therapy for Scarless Wound Healing

  • Ming-Li Zou,
  • Ying-Ying Teng,
  • Jun-Jie Wu,
  • Si-Yu Liu,
  • Xiao-Yu Tang,
  • Yuan Jia,
  • Zhong-Hua Chen,
  • Kai-Wen Zhang,
  • Zi-Li Sun,
  • Xia Li,
  • Jun-Xing Ye,
  • Rui-Sheng Xu,
  • Feng-Lai Yuan,
  • Feng-Lai Yuan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2021.713605
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

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In recent years, research on wound healing has become increasingly in-depth, but therapeutic effects are still not satisfactory. Occasionally, pathological tissue repair occurs. Influencing factors have been proposed, but finding the turning point between normal and pathological tissue repair is difficult. Therefore, we focused our attention on the most basic level of tissue repair: fibroblasts. Fibroblasts were once considered terminally differentiated cells that represent a single cell type, and their heterogeneity was not studied until recently. We believe that subpopulations of fibroblasts play different roles in tissue repair, resulting in different repair results, such as the formation of normal scars in physiological tissue repair and fibrosis or ulcers in pathological tissue repair. It is also proposed that scarless healing can be achieved by regulating fibroblast subpopulations.

Keywords