Acute inflammation is the process that protects us every moment of our lives. Fibroblasts respond to injury or infection by stopping their usual function of tissue maintenance and repair. They transform in shape and produce inflammatory chemicals TNF-α, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12. At the same time they release other chemicals that draw blood cells from local capillaries into the tissue. There they transform and produce more inflammatory chemicals. These combined inflammatory products destroy damaged tissue and invading microbes. They also devour the debris left behind, ultimately going back into the blood stream and carrying this debris away.
