Figure 8. Cyclical stretch of human cardiac fibroblasts (HCFs) reveals tension responsive changes in extracellular matrix gene expression and protein production.

A, Volcano plot showing global changes in gene expression between stretched (10% longitudinal strain, 24 hours) vs static (0% longitudinal strain, 24 hours) HCFs. B, Heatmap of the top differentially expressed genes. C, Gene ontology analysis revealed that pathways corresponding to the extracellular space were enriched by mechanical stretch. D and E, Western blots performed on cell lysates and media from stretched and static HCF showed differences in collagen 1 protein in the media, and collagen IV and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A2 (eIF4A2) protein in cell lysates. FC indicates fold change. *P<0.05