ReviewHuman dermal fibroblasts in psychiatry research

- Patient-derived human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) are a widely used in vitro model for multifactorial psychiatric disorders.
- HDF model provides an invaluable platform for in vitro experimentation with living patient biomaterial.
- HDFs greatly contribute to the understanding of the disease related cell function abnormalities.
- HGFs reveal deviations in signal transduction, redox homeostasis, circadian rhythms, gene*environment interaction, etc.
- HDF studies uncover disease traits and biomarkers and contribute to developing potential therapeutic strategies.

In order to decipher the disease etiology, progression and treatment of multifactorial human brain diseases we utilize a host of different experimental models. Recently, patient-derived human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cultures have re-emerged as promising in vitro functional system for examining various cellular, molecular, metabolic and (patho)physiological states and traits of psychiatric disorders. HDF studies serve as a powerful complement to postmortem and animal studies, and often appear to be informative about the altered homeostasis in neural tissue. Studies of HDFs from patients with schizophrenia (SZ), depression, bipolar disorder (BD), autism, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder and other psychiatric disorders have significantly advanced our understanding of these devastating diseases. These reports unequivocally prove that signal transduction, redox homeostasis, circadian rhythms and gene*environment (G*E) interactions are all amenable for assessment by the HDF model. Furthermore, the reported findings suggest that this underutilized patient biomaterial, combined with modern molecular biology techniques, may have both diagnostic and prognostic value, including prediction of response to therapeutic agents.

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