Figure 5.

TGFβ increases the number of α-SMA–positive fibroblasts in collagen lattices. Collagen lattices with SCFs (A–C) and LFs (D–F) were stained after 5 d for α-SMA (red), F-actin (A, B, D, and E, green), ED-A FN (C and F, green), and cell nuclei (blue). Colocalization of α-SMA with F-actin or ED-A FN, respectively, is indicated by yellow color. Control SCFs populations contained a low number of α-SMA–positive cells (A, C) compared with SCFs treated for 5 d with 10 ng/ml TGFβ (B) or LFs (D and F). TGFβ-sR (100 ng/ml) decreased the number of α-SMA–positive LFs (E). ED-A FN expression by SCFs (C) is lower than that of LFs (F). Bar, 50 μm.