Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Collagen Content In Skin And Internal Organs Of The Tight Skin Mouse: An Animal Model Of Scleroderma., Jayanthi Manne, Marina Markova, Linda D Siracusa, Sergio A Jimenez

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

The Tight Skin mouse is a genetically induced animal model of tissue fibrosis caused by a large in-frame mutation in the gene encoding fibrillin-1 (Fbn-1). We examined the influence of gender on the collagen content of tissues in C57BL/6J wild type (+/+) and mutant Tight Skin (Tsk/+) mice employing hydroxyproline assays. Tissue sections were stained with Masson's trichrome to identify collagen in situ. Adult Tsk/+ mice skin contains ~15% more collagen, on average, than skin from +/+ mice of the same gender. The heart of Tsk/+ males had significantly more collagen than that of +/+ males. No significant gender differences …