Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a combination of markers that you think is the best to discriminate fibroblasts from myofibroblasts in cell cultures where cardiac myocytes are also present. I'd like to perform western blot and immunofluorescence. I know that there are some markers like aSMA, SMemb and DDR2 for myofibroblasts, but are these also present in fibroblasts and if yes, to what extent? Is a-actin only enough to mark myocytes?
Thanks
Konstantinos. Everything is relative in terms of protein expression as measured by WB and/or IF. Alpha-SMA is a typical marker distinguishing myofibroblasts from fibroblasts. In fact, in vitro and in vivo expression of aSMA gene in fibroblast leads to myofibroblast morphology and function. I'd highly suggest to use HRP-conjugated anti-aSMA to perform both WB and IF for sensitivity and specificity, especially when your cells are cultured in fetal bovine serum-supplemented medium. Good luck.
Thanks Adam for your reply! Do you have any paper which shows what you said about upregulation of those markers in myofibroblasts?
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