ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Cell Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1577118
TRPC3 Inhibition Induces Myofibroblast Differentiation in Diabetic Dermal Fibroblasts
Provisionally accepted
- University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), Memphis, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Diabetic wounds present a significant healthcare challenge due to impaired healing mechanisms, with dermal fibroblasts playing a crucial role in tissue repair. This study investigates the role of transient receptor potential canonical-3 (TRPC3) in the dysfunction of diabetic fibroblasts and explores the therapeutic potential of TRPC3 inhibition. Findings reveal that TRPC3 expression is significantly elevated in diabetic dermal fibroblasts, which correlates with suppressed transforming growth factorbeta (TGF-β) signaling and impaired differentiation into myofibroblasts. Inhibiting TRPC3 effectively restores fibroblast functionality by upregulating TGF-β1 and its downstream effector, SMAD4. This restoration enhances the expression of key myofibroblast markers, such as α-smooth muscle actin (ACTA2) and type I collagen (COL1a1), which are essential for wound contraction and extracellular matrix remodeling. These results establish TRPC3 as a critical regulator of fibroblast activity and present TRPC3 inhibition as a promising therapeutic strategy for improving wound healing in diabetic patients.
Keywords: diabetic dermal fibroblast, myofibroblast, TRPC3, Pharmacological inhibition, TGF-β signaling
Received: 15 Feb 2025; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Toogood, Evans, Zhang, Patel, Meng, BODA, Li and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Junwang Xu, University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), Memphis, United States
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.