A Redox-Shifted Fibroblast Subpopulation Emerges in the Fibrotic Lung

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an aggressive and, thus far, incurable disease characterized by aberrant fibroblast-mediated extracellular matrix deposition. Our understanding of the disease etiology is incomplete; however, there is consensus that a reduction-oxidation (redox) imbalance plays a role. In this study, we use the autofluorescent properties of two redox molecules, NAD(P)H and FAD, to quantify changes in their relative abundance in living lung tissue of mice with experimental lung fibrosis and in freshly isolated cells from mouse lungs and humans with IPF. Our results identify cell population-specific intracellular redox changes in the lungs in experimental and human fibrosis. We focus particularly on redox changes within collagen-producing cells, where we identified a bimodal distribution of NAD(P)H concentrations, establishing NAD(P)H^high and NAD(P)H^low subpopulations. NAD(P)H^high fibroblasts exhibited elevated profibrotic gene expression and decreased collagenolytic protease activity relative to NAD(P)H^low fibroblasts. The NAD(P)H^high population was present in healthy lungs but expanded with time after bleomycin injury, suggesting a potential role in fibrosis progression. We identified a similar increased abundance of NAD(P)H^high cells in freshly dissociated lungs of subjects with IPF relative to control subjects, as well as similar reductions in collagenolytic activity in this cell population. These data highlight the complexity of redox state changes in experimental and human pulmonary fibrosis and the need for selective approaches to restore redox imbalances in the fibrotic lung.