IMR Press / RCM / Volume 22 / Issue 4 / DOI: 10.31083/j.rcm2204126
Open Access Review
Evolving roles of cardiac fibroblasts in cardiogenesis and immunology, electrophysiology, and aging
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1 International Genome Center, Jiangsu University, 212013 Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
2 Department of Laboratory Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, 212001 Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
*Correspondence: liuf2020@ujs.edu.cn (Fang Liu)
Academic Editor: Yoshiaki Kaneko
Rev. Cardiovasc. Med. 2021, 22(4), 1173–1183; https://doi.org/10.31083/j.rcm2204126
Submitted: 14 August 2021 | Revised: 9 September 2021 | Accepted: 9 September 2021 | Published: 22 December 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical Electrophysiology: Diagnosis and Treatment)
Copyright: © 2021 The Author(s). Published by IMR Press.
This is an open access article under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Abstract

Cardiac fibroblasts (CFs), one of the major groups of cardiac cells, play a prominent role in the cardiac microenvironment through communicating with other cells such as cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells and immune cells. These communications are required not only during cardiac development but also during pathogenesis. CFs are also involved in developmental changes in the post-natal and pre-natal heart through depositing extra cellular matrix (ECM) and maintaining cardiac tissue structure. Furthermore, CFs show both detrimental and beneficial effects in maintenance of the electrophysiology of the heart. Senescent CFs in the cardiac microenvironment influence other cardiac cells through paracrine signaling, which would worsen or cure the diseases. Therefore, there is a need of exclusive study on CFs’ role in the developmental stage of the heart, electrophysiology, and senescence. This review discusses the current research about CFs’ function, especially the CFs’ role in cardiac development, electrophysiology, and senescence, and proposes a certain gap filling future prospective.

Keywords
Cardiac fibroblasts
Cardiac microenvironment
Cardiac development
Electrophysiology
Senescence
Figures
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