As the primary producer of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins in skeletal muscle, fibroblasts play an important role providing structural support to muscle. Skeletal muscle ECM is vital for force transduction from the muscle cells to the tendon and bones to create movement. It is these ECM connections that allow the movement created in muscle to be transmitted to our skeleton. This review discusses how fibroblasts participate in maintaining this healthy ECM within the skeletal muscle. Additionally, from a basic science perspective, we discuss current methods to identify and study skeletal muscle fibroblasts, as this is critical to bettering our understanding of these important cells. Finally, skeletal muscle fibrosis is discussed, which can be a devastating clinical condition characterized by an overproduction of ECM within skeletal muscle. We discuss the role that fibroblasts and other cells play in muscle fibrosis as well as the implications of this work.
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