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PERITONEAL CELL CULTURE: FIBROBLASTS

Department of Pathophysiology,¹ University Medical School, Pozna, Poland; Department of Nephrology and Medical Intensive Care,² Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Berlin, Germany

Correspondence to: J. Witowski, Department of Pathophysiology, University Medical School, Swicickiego 6, 60-781 Pozna, Poland.jwitow{at}amp.edu.pl

Fibroblasts have been traditionally viewed as providing little more than a structural lattice for other cell types. However, recent data indicate that fibroblasts play a key and early role in many pathophysiological processes, including inflammation, fibrosis, and neoplasia. Moreover, depending on the anatomical location, fibroblasts display significant functional heterogeneity. Therefore, it is important to study the subpopulation of fibroblasts derived exactly from the organ of interest rather than to extrapolate the observations made in other fibroblast subsets. Cell culture provides a powerful tool for studying the role of fibroblasts in various contexts. In this review, we describe procedures for establishing and identifying primary cultures of human peritoneal fibroblasts. We also briefly discuss the potential involvement of peritoneal fibroblasts in peritoneal pathology.

KEY WORDS: Fibroblast; peritoneum; cell culture.

Received 30 September 2005; accepted 16 January 2006.

Copyright © 2006 by Multimed Inc.