Starting from the hypothesis that the elongation of the eye globe in myopia should involve the biosynthesis of ECM proteins in the sclera, and that atropine might interfere with this process, we treated HSF cells with increasing doses of atropine (from 0.1 to 1.0 mM) for 24 and 48 h, and measured the amount of collagen and fibronectin in cell lysates. The gene discussed is FN1; the disease is myopia.