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Updated: Jul 26, 2025

Author Spotlight: Isolation and Culture of Primary Synovial Macrophages and Fibroblasts from Murine Arthritis Tissue
Published on: February 24, 2023
Extracellular matrix in synovium development, homeostasis and arthritis disease
Qi Wei1, Xuemin Zhu1, Luping Wang1
1Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Anhui Medical University, Key Laboratory of Anti-Inflammatory and Immune Medicine, Anhui Collaborative Innovation Center of Anti-Inflammatory and Immune Medicine, Ministry of Education, Hefei 230032, China.
Abstract:
Extracellular matrix (ECM) is a three-dimensional network entity composed of extracellular macromolecules. ECM in synovium not only supports the structural integrity of synovium, but also plays a crucial role in regulating homeostasis and damage repair response in synovium. Obvious disorders in the composition, behavior and function of synovial ECM will lead to the occurrence and development of arthritis diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). Based on the importance of synovial ECM, targeted regulation of the composition and structure of ECM is considered to be an effective measure for the treatment of arthritis disease. This paper reviews the current research status of synovial ECM biology, discusses the role and mechanism of synovial ECM in physiological status and arthritis disease, and summarizes the current strategies for targeting synovial ECM to provide information for the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of arthritis disease.
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