Fibroblast response to burn injury in larval zebrafish mirrors developmental maturation and is inhibited by infiltrating neutrophils

Fibroblasts mediate tissue repair after damage, but aberrant fibroblast behavior in response to injury can result in impaired wound healing. Severe burn injury often results in tissue scarring, but the underlying mechanisms by which fibroblasts respond to burn injury and the role of inflammation in fibrosis are not well understood. Here, we have developed fluorescent reporters of collagen-expressing mesenchymal cells, enabling real-time imaging of fibroblasts during homeostatic development and in response to burn injury using larval zebrafish. We find that fibroblasts derived from the mesenchyme respond to burn injury by engaging in a maturation process, characterized by the expression of vimentin, which is reminiscent of larval development. In burned tissue, fibroblast maturation is perturbed by prolonged neutrophil infiltration, resulting in disorganized extracellular matrix (ECM) and delayed ECM remodeling, which can be rescued by neutrophil depletion. This work adds to our understanding of fibroblast development in zebrafish and shows that collagen-expressing mesenchymal cells regulate ECM remodeling in coordination with immune cells during burn wound healing.