Hedgehog and metabolism. Mus musculus

Deregulated accumulation of myofibroblasts (MF) is central to liver fibrosis pathogenesis, but the mechanisms controlling myofibroblast fate remain poorly understood. Here we investigated whether Hedgehog (Hh) signaling regulates MF fate by modulating MF metabolism. We performed microarrays to screen hepatic stellate cells (HSC) for transition-associated changes in metabolism. To capture early and late events in their MF transition process, we compared gene expression in freshly isolated primary HSC with gene expression in the same cells after 7 days in culture. Overall design: We analyzed total RNA from 3 replicates of HSC in the early transition or quiescent state (n=3) as well as in the late phase of transition (MF) (n=3).