cDNA encoding the core protein of rat syndecan was cloned from a neonatal rat aortic cDNA library by polymerase chain reaction amplification. Expression of syndecan mRNA in rat aortic vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells was demonstrated by reverse transcriptase-linked polymerase chain reaction amplification of syndecan sequences using total RNA from rat aortic VSM cells as templates. Polyclonal ...

Decreases in intracellular pH (pHi) potently dilate coronary resistance arteries but constrict small pulmonary arteries. To define the ionic mechanisms of these responses, this study investigated whether acute decreases in pHi differentially regulate K+ currents in single vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells isolated from rat coronary and pulmonary resistance arteries. In patch-clamp studies, who...

The thiazolidenediones (TZDs) are commonly used to treat hyperglycemia in type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is associated with macrovascular disease, leading to accelerated atherosclerosis caused by aberrant vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cell proliferation. Although VSM cell proliferation is inhibited by the TZDs, the mechanism of this effect has not been established. Because of reports that the cyclin ...

RATIONALE Cartilaginous metaplasia of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) is characteristic for arterial calcification in diabetes and uremia and in the background of genetic alterations in matrix Gla protein (MGP). A better understanding of the molecular details of this process is critical for the development of novel therapeutic approaches to VSM transformation and arterial calcification. OBJECTIV...

Vector space model (VSM) is a common method for measuring test questions similarity in massive item bank system. VSM is limited in accurately representing the knowledge relationship and the potential semantic relations of different characteristic words, hence this paper proposes a method of test questions similarity measure called OVSMTQSM which combines domain ontology and VSM. OVSM-TQSM can r...

House SJ, Ginnan RG, Armstrong SE, Singer HA. Calcium/ calmodulin-dependent protein kinase IIisoform regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 292: C2276–C2287, 2007. First published January 31, 2007; doi:10.1152/ajpcell.00606.2006.—There is accumulating evidence that Ca -dependent signaling pathways regulate proliferation and migration of vascular smoot...

Abnormal vascular smooth muscle (VSM) growth is central in the pathophysiology of vascular disease yet fully effective therapies to curb this growth are lacking. Recent findings from our lab and others support growth control of VSM by adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-based approaches including the metabolic sensor AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA). Molecul...

There is accumulating evidence that Ca(2+)-dependent signaling pathways regulate proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells, contributing to the intimal accumulation of VSM that is a hallmark of many vascular diseases. In this study we investigated the role of the multifunctional serine/threonine kinase, calmodulin (CaM)-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII), as a mediator...

We have investigated the requirement for c-myc downregulation in the growth arrest of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Rat VSMCs were infected with a retrovirus vector directing constitutive expression of either the complete human c-Myc protein (VSM-myc cells) or the c-Myc deletion mutant D106-143, which is inactive in cotransformation and autosuppression assays (VSM-D106-143 myc cells). C...

This chapter considers the usefulness of the Viable System Model (VSM) in the study of organizational adaptation. The VSM is a rigorous organizational model that was developed from the study of cybernetics and has been given considerable ttention by management science research. The chapter presents a longitudinal case study that focuses upon a software development team. The VSM was useful in di...