Fig. 6.

Esophageal stromal cell expression of myofibroblast markers. A: primary cultures of esophageal stromal cells established from C57BL/6 mice at passage 5–15 were harvested, and mRNA expression of α-SMA, vimentin, desmin, and cytokeratin was assessed. B: primary cultures of esophageal stromal cells at passage 5–15 were grown on chamber slides and were stained with desmin (D8281, 1:20; Sigma-Aldrich). Immunocytochemistry demonstrates a speckled, predominantly perinuclear staining along with lower-intensity cytoplasmic staining. *P < 0.05.