Isolation and Characterization of Adult Cardiac Fibroblasts and Myofibroblasts

Cardiac fibrosis in response to injury is a physiological response to wound healing. Efforts have been made to study and target fibroblast subtypes that mitigate fibrosis. However, fibroblast research has been hindered due to the lack of universally acceptable fibroblast markers to identify quiescent as well as activated fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are a heterogenous cell population, making them difficult to isolate and characterize. The presented protocol describes three different methods to enrich fibroblasts and myofibroblasts from uninjured and injured mouse hearts. Using a standard and reliable protocol to isolate fibroblasts will enable the study of their roles in homeostasis as well as fibrosis modulation.