Adult-fetal fibroblast interactions: effects on cell migration and implications for cell transplantation

Wound healing is a complex process involving close cooperation between multiple cell types. During wound healing, fibroblasts are primarily responsible for synthesis of the replacement extracellular matrix. Fibroblast therapy is under investigation in this and other laboratories for its potential use to modulate the final outcome of the wound-healing process. This study addresses the potential interactions between transplanted and host fibroblasts, using a two-dimensional mixed culture model. Our results show that fibroblasts of two different phenotypes, fetal and adult, exhibit different speeds of in vitro migration. These migration speeds are conserved in mixed cocultures, suggesting that the migratory response is an intrinsic property of the fibroblast rather than a response to juxtacrine or paracrine signals. These results have relevance for cell-based therapies in that they demonstrate that donor fibroblasts of a different phenotype may at least partially retain that phenotype in the host environment and in the presence of endogenous fibroblasts.