Mouse Lung Repair
Researchers found that disabling genes that transmit tension to the nucleus of connective tissue cells in mice improved lung recovery after injury. On August 18, authors published a preprint on bioRxiv about damaged mouse lungs. When they genetically disabled two genes in fibroblasts, by day 28, this group had less scarring and severely damaged tissue.
Alveoli, the air sacs where blood receives oxygen, are restored by AT2 cells after injury. Nearby alveolar fibroblasts send signals to the epithelium needed for repair. After severe damage, tissue stretching can alter their function for an extended period. To separate the action of stretching from toxic damage, authors partially removed the lung, causing the remaining tissue to stretch more.
In another experiment, they tied off a bronchus of one lobe, reducing stretching in that area. With increased stretching, fibroblasts temporarily lost signs of their normal alveolar state, while reduced stretching preserved them. The researchers had previously shown in a 2024 study that the connection between fibroblasts and epithelium after injury could lead to pathological tissue remodeling; now they checked how physical signals maintained this change. The LINC complex, including Sun1 and Sun2, transmits nuclear tension from intracellular fibers.
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August 24, 2026 9
