Figure 9.

Ex vivo stretching experiments. (A): Connective tissue explants from control and sclerodermatous graft-versus-host disease (sclGvHD) mice were stretched (S) versus not stretched for 2 h ex vivo, then fixed and stained for measurement of fibroblast cross-sectional area as shown in Figure 8. Fibroblast response to ex vivo tissue stretch was reduced in sclGvHD mice that were euthanized at week 4 but not week 2, compared with controls. (B): In sclGvHD mice, daily in vivo stretching did not result in an increased fibroblast responsiveness to ex vivo stretching at week 4.