Fibroblast, Fibroblast

Currently, there is a tendency to call both forms fibroblasts. The suffix "blast" is used in cellular biology to denote a stem cell or a cell in an activated state of metabolism.

Fibroblasts secrete the precursors of all the components of the extracellular matrix, primarily the ground substance and a variety of fibres. The composition of the extracellular matrix determines the physical properties of connective tissues.

Though morphologically inconspicuous, ectopically transplanted fibroblasts can often retain positional memory of the location and tissue context where they had previously resided, at least over a few generations.

Fibroblasts can also migrate slowly over substratum as individual cells, again in contrast to epithelial cells. While epithelial cells form the lining of body structures, it is fibroblasts and related connective tissues which sculpt the "bulk" of an organism.

They have a reduced rough endoplasmic reticulum. Although disjointed and scattered when they have to cover a large space, fibroblasts when crowded often locally align in parallel clusters.

Tissue damage stimulates fibrocytes and induces the mitosis of fibroblasts.

Source: Wikipedia > Fibroblast