@article {SaundersP817, author = {Ruth Saunders and Davinder Kaur and Camille Doe and Fay Hollins and Christopher Brightling}, title = {Airway smooth muscle behaviour is altered following coculture with fibrocytes}, volume = {40}, number = {Suppl 56}, elocation-id = {P817}, year = {2012}, publisher = {European Respiratory Society}, abstract = {Asthma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and its prevalence is increasing. The airway smooth muscle (ASM) in asthma is dysfunctional with increased mass and contractility. Fibrocytes (FC) are elevated in the peripheral blood and ASM in asthma and ASM has the potential to mediate FC recruitment (Saunders et al, J Allergy Clin Immunol, 2009;123:376-84). We hypothesised that FCs modify ASM behaviour to contribute to ASM dysfunction in asthma.FCs were isolated from peripheral blood, ASM from bronchial biopsies and lung resection material. ASM contraction was assessed by collagen gel contraction, and potential mechanisms for increased mass by migration, proliferation and survival assays.Contraction of collagen gels impregnated with ASM cultured with FCs for 3-4d vs ASM alone increased significantly (i.e. reduction in area under curve of gel size as a percentage of the original size plotted over 30 min (AUC30), Table 1). ASM wound healing (WH) increased significantly in the presence of supernatants (SNs) from FC{\textpm}ASM 7d cultures vs control media, but no additional WH was seen in the presence of FC or FC+ASM SNs vs ASM SNs alone (Table 1). ASM proliferation and survival was unaffected by culture with FCs/FC SNs for 7d.View this table:Table 1Localisation of FCs to the ASM-bundle could contribute to the hypercontractility of ASM in asthma, which is integral to the pathophysiology of asthma. The mechanism by which this occurs requires further investigation, but has the potential to provide future therapeutic targets.}, issn = {0903-1936}, URL = {https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P817}, eprint = {https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/40/Suppl_56/P817.full.pdf}, journal = {European Respiratory Journal} }