Understanding how fibrous disorders occur

Fibrosis (thickening or scarring of tissue) or keloids (raised scars resulting from minor skin damage) are believed to be affected not only by genetic factors, but also by changes in the extracellular matrix (ECM) which consists of a network of fibrous proteins, elastin, and collagens.

In order to understand how these phenomena occur and their mechanobiological pathways, a team of scientists from LaVision UK and Queen Mary University of London recreated fibrotic conditions for the onset of keloid scarring and used probes to detect their early onset. Using X-ray imaging, they were able to measure spatially resolved fibrillar-strains in fibrotic tissue. They then used in situ SAXS at Diamond to determine fibril strain and reorientation. It is hoped that this approach will help in future studies of this kind, to enable the development of effective therapies.

Find out what they discovered.