Your body is held together by tough, stringy fibers. Fibrocytes are the quiet caretakers that live among those fibers and keep them in good shape.
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Fibrocytes live in connective tissue. That's the stuff that holds your body together, like the deep layer of your skin and the tendons that tie muscles to bones.
A fibrocyte is long and thin, a bit like a stretched-out leaf. It has a flat, skinny nucleus. All around it are thick ropes called collagen fibers.
A fibrocyte is really a fibroblast taking a rest. Fibroblasts are busy fiber makers. When the work is done, they slow down and become fibrocytes.
Most of the time, fibrocytes do small jobs. They keep the fibers around them healthy and tidy.
But if you get a cut or a sprain, nearby fibrocytes can wake up. They turn back into busy fibroblasts and spin out new collagen to patch the hurt spot. That's part of how cuts heal and how a scar forms.
Scroll up to the 3D model and press Wake up! to watch the fibrocyte start making new fibers.