The cellular distribution of the alpha-vascular and gamma-enteric smooth muscle actin isoforms was analyzed in rat embryos from gestational day (gd) 8 through the first neonatal week by in situ antigen localization using isoactin specific monoclonal antibodies. The alpha-vascular actin isoform was first detected on gd 10 in discrete cells lining the embryonic vasculature. By gd 14, this isoform...

Formation of the vascular system requires differentiation and patterning of endothelial and smooth muscle cells (SMCs). Although much attention has focused on development of the vascular endothelial network, the mechanisms that control vascular SMC development are largely unknown. Myocardin is a smooth and cardiac muscle-specific transcriptional coactivator of serum response factor, a ubiquitou...

( a ) 20 mM-sterol was co-sonicated with 20 mM-DOPC (1 mol/mol) and 0.2 mM12-doxy1 stearic acid. Spectra were measured at 3 7 T , pH 7.2, in a Brucker ER 200D e.s.r. spectrometer. ( b ) The (Ca2 +-Mg2+)-ATPase was purified and reconstituted in DMPC according to the methods of East & Lee [9]. Activities were measured using a coupled enzyme assay, at 3 7 T , pH 7.2, 2 mM-ATP, 1 pM-Ca2+ as outline...

Vascular smooth muscle has the ability to exist in a state of maintained partial constriction. This state of partial activation is initiated and/or maintained by the mechanical effects of distending pressure acting on the vascular wall. The intrinsic ability of vascular smooth muscle to respond to these mechanical forces is referred to as the myogenic mechanism. Within the past decade the signa...

Hypertension is a risk factor for myocardial infarction, stroke, renal failure, heart failure, and peripheral vascular disease. One feature of hypertension is a hyperresponsiveness to contractile agents, and inhibition of vasoconstriction forms the basis of some of the treatments for hypertension. Hypertension is also associated with an increase in the growth and proliferation of vascular smoot...

The Na(+)-H+ exchanger has important modulatory effects on vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and contractility. Increased Na(+)-H+ exchange activity is a general property of many tissues, including mesenteric artery and cultured vascular smooth muscle cells, in the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR). In the present work, we investigated whether alterations in the steady-state levels o...

Angioleiomyomas that present with no symptoms are extremely rare, except when located on the head and neck. 1 Three cutaneous variants of this tumor have been described: piloleiomyoma, which originates in the erector pili muscle; angioleiomyoma, which originates in the smooth muscle of blood vessel walls; and genital leiomyoma, which originates in the smooth muscle of the scrotum, vulva, or nip...

The goal of this study was to determine if increased vascular smooth muscle sensitivity to norepinephrine in two-kidney, one clip (2K1C) hypertensive rats is the result of a decrease in adrenergic nerve function. Vascular sensitivity to norepinephrine was measured in isolated tail artery strips from 2K1C hypertensive and normotensive rats and in various arterial stripe preparations from normote...

Vascular progenitor cells are desirable in a variety of therapeutic strategies; however, the lineage commitment of endothelial and smooth muscle cell from a common progenitor is not well-understood. Here, we report the generation of the first dual reporter mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) lines designed to facilitate the study of vascular endothelial and smooth muscle development in vitro. Thes...