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The Collagen Changes of Dupuytrens ContractureFrom the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Oxford Correspondence: Dr G. A. C. Murrell, Box 3093, Orthopaedic Research Laboratories, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina, 27710, U.S.A. In Dupuytrens contracture there is an increase in the ratio of type III to type I collagen. The objective of this study was to determine if fibroblasts from patients with Dupuytrens contracture have an intrinsic aberration in collagen production or whether local factors govern the collagen changes in Dupuytrens contracture. Using a new collagen micro-method, we found that fibroblasts cultured from palmar fascia affected by Dupuytrens contracture produced similar collagen to fibroblasts derived from the palmar fascia of age- and sex-matched patients with carpal tunnel syndrome. Furthermore, the collagen changes of Dupuytrens contracture could be reproduced in all cell lines by increasing fibroblast density. At high fibroblast density, type I collagen production was inhibited: a finding that could account for the increased types III/I collagen ratio in Dupuytrens contracture. These results suggest that a genetic defect in collagen production is unlikely and that the important phenomenon is an increase in fibroblast density.
Journal of Hand Surgery (British and European Volume), Vol. 16, No. 3,
263-266 (1991) |
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