In-vitro study of collagen biosynthesis by fibroblasts from patients with cervical artery dissections

Background: Cervical artery dissections are associated with connective tissue aberrations that can be routinely diagnosed by an electron microscopic investigation of a skin biopsy. The molecular defect, leading to the subclinical connective tissue phenotype of patients with a cervical artery dissection, is unknown. Methods: Dermal fibroblasts from patients and from healthy control subjects were cultivated in bovine collagen lattices. These artificial collagen lattices contract dramatically during cultivation, due to the biosynthesis of human collagens and the migration of the fibroblasts within the lattice and n…