Disruption of Calcium Signaling in Fibroblasts and Attenuation of Bleomycin-Induced Fibrosis by Nifedipine

Fibrotic lung disease afflicts millions of people; the central problem is progressive lung destruction and remodeling. We have shown that external growth factors regulate fibroblast function not only through canonical signaling pathways but also through propagation of periodic oscillations in Ca(2+). In this study, we characterized the pharmacological sensitivity of the Ca(2+)oscillations and determined whether a blocker of those oscillations …