Rationale: Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf)3, a member of the cap ‘N’ collar family of transcription factors that bind to the DNA-antioxidant responsive elements, is involved in reactive oxygen species balancing and in muscle precursor migration during early embryo development. Objective: To investigate the functional role of Nrf3 in smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation in vi...

Condensin and cohesin are two protein complexes that act as the central mediators of chromosome condensation and sister chromatid cohesion, respectively. The basic underlying mechanism of action of these complexes remained enigmatic. Direct visualization of condensin and cohesin was expected to provide hints to their mechanisms. They are composed of heterodimers of distinct structural maintenan...

Loss of large artery compliance is an emerging novel predictor of cardiovascular mortality. Hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension (HPH) has been shown to decrease extralobar pulmonary artery (PA) compliance in the absence of smooth muscle cell (SMC) tone and to increase SMC tone in peripheral PAs. We sought to determine the impact of HPH on extralobar PA tone and the impact of SMC activation o...

We and others have previously shown that the myocardin transcription factors play critical roles in the regulation of smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation marker gene expression. In a yeast 2-hybrid screen for proteins that interact with myocardin-related transcription factor-A (MRTF-A), we identified the histone 3 lysine 9 (H3K9)-specific demethylase, Jmjd1a. GST pull-down assays demonstra...

Plants are the essential factors shaping soil microbial community (SMC) structure. When most studies focus on the difference in the SMC structure associated different plant species, the variation in the SMC structure associated with phylogenetically close species is less investigated. Legume (Fabaceae) and grass (Poaceae) are functionally important plant groups; however, their influences on the...

We studied the effect of heparin on wall thickening in balloon-injured carotid arteries and vein grafts in rabbits. Heparin (0.3 mg/kg of body weight/hour) reduced intimal cross-sectional area in balloon-injured carotid arteries at 2 weeks (0.20 +/- 0.05 mm2 vs. 0.05 +/- 0.02 mm2, p = 0.02). Autoradiography after a single pulse of tritiated thymidine revealed no labeling in the few intimal cell...

Previous studies suggested that arterial smooth muscle cells (SMC) may be involved in regulating the growth of capillaries into atherosclerotic plaques. In the present study, we determined the effect of SMC products on porcine aortic endothelial cell (EC) replication in vitro. Quiescent or slowly growing EC in medium without endothelial cell growth factor (ECGF) were stimulated to proliferate i...

SMC condensin complexes play a central role in organizing and compacting chromosomes in all domains of life [1, 2]. In the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, cells lacking SMC are viable only during slow growth and display decondensed chromosomes, suggesting that SMC complexes function throughout the genome [3, 4]. Here, we show that rapid inactivation of SMC or its partner protein ScpB during fast g...

Serum response factor (SRF) transcriptionally regulates expression of contractile genes in smooth muscle cells (SMC). Lack or decrease of SRF is directly linked to a phenotypic change of SMC, leading to hypomotility of smooth muscle in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. However, the molecular mechanism behind SRF-induced hypomotility in GI smooth muscle is largely unknown. We describe here how SR...

Vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) isolated from embyronic and early fetal (e13-e18) rat aortas exhibit an "embryonic growth phenotype" in culture (Cook, C. L., M. C. M. Weiser, P. E. Schwartz, C. L. Jones, and R. A. Majack. 1994. Circ. Res. 74:189-196). Cells in this growth phenotype exhibit autonomous, serum-independent replication, in contrast to SMC in the "adult" growth phenotype, whose pr...