Chemokines are small cytokines primarily known for their roles in inflammation. More recently, however, they have been implicated in processes involved in development of the granulation tissue of wounds, but little is known about their functions during this process. Fibroblasts play key roles in this phase of healing: some fibroblasts differentiate into myofibroblasts, alpha-smooth muscle actin...

Activated fibroblasts, or myofibroblasts, are crucial players in tissue remodeling, wound healing, and various fibrotic disorders, including interstitial lung fibrosis associated with scleroderma. Here we characterize the signaling pathways in normal lung fibroblasts exposed to thrombin as they acquire two of the main features of myofibroblasts: smooth muscle (SM) alpha-actin organization and c...

Regulation of the supersensitivity and subsensitivity of the alpha adrenergic (alpha-Ad) system of rat vas deferens cultured under various experimental conditions was investigated. Muscles cultured for 3 days in normal medium (Eagle's MEM) exhibited marked increase in maximal contraction to noradrenaline (NA) and high K+ (154 mM), while muscles cultured with NA (100 microM) were subsensitive to...

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) may mediate the stimulatory effect of contraction and 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleoside (AICAR) on glucose transport in skeletal muscle. In muscles with different fiber type composition from fasted rats, AICAR increased 2-deoxyglucose transport and total AMPK activity approximately twofold in epitrochlearis (EPI), less in flexor digitorum brevis, ...

Neuro-effector transmission and mechanical responses in smooth muscles of the dog iris were studied, using tension recording and microelectrode methods. Electrical stimulations evoked an initial phasic contraction followed by relaxation in both the iris sphincter and dilator muscles. Atropine selectively suppressed phasic contraction of the sphincter and relaxation of the dilator muscle, while ...

Cicatricial contraction of preretinal fibrous membrane is a cause of severe vision loss in proliferative vitreoretinal diseases such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). TGF-beta is overexpressed in the vitreous of patients with proliferative vitreoretinal diseases and is also detectable in the contractile membranes. Therefore, TGF-beta is presu...