Mechanisms linked to actin filaments have long been thought to cooperate in smooth muscle contraction, although key molecules were unclear. We show evidence that cardiac troponin T (cTnT) substantially contributes to Ca(2+)-mediated contraction in a physiological range of cytosolic Ca(2+) concentration ([Ca(2+)](i)). cTnT was detected in various smooth muscles of the aorta, trachea, gut and uri...

A 35--70% ammonium sulfate fraction of smooth muscle actomyosin was prepared from guinea pig vas deferens. This fraction also contains a smooth muscle myosin kinase and a phosphatase that phosphorylates and dephosphorylates, respectively, the 20,000-dalton light chain of smooth muscle myosin. Phosphorylated and dephosphorylated smooth muscle myosin. Phosphorylated and dephosphorylated smooth mu...

Smooth muscle cells are able to adapt rapidly to chemical and mechanical signals impinging on the cell surface. It has been suggested that dynamic changes in the actin cytoskeleton contribute to the processes of contractile activation and mechanical adaptation in smooth muscle. In this review, evidence for functionally important changes in actin polymerization during smooth muscle contraction i...

Vascular replacement in vital organs is sometimes necessary for human life for example because of atherosclerosis. Blood vessel tissue engineering is applied for autologous transplantations to avoid graft rejections. Stem cells are used for blood vessel tissue engineering because they are the origin of smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells and fibroblasts. This paper shows that bone marrow str...

We determined the actin isotypes encoded by 30 actin cDNA clones previously isolated from an adult human muscle cDNA library. Using 3' untranslated region probes derived from a-skeletal, 13and -y-actin cDNAs and from an a-cardiac actin genomic clone, we showed that 28 of the cDNAs correspond to a-skeletal actin transcripts. Unexpectedly, however, the remaining two cDNA clones proved to derive f...

Background: The process of wound healing involves integrated events including inflammation, granulation tissue formation, matrix deposition and remodeling. Growth factors play a key role in the process. Among them transforming growth factor-ß1 (TGF-ß1) is known to accelerate tissue repair by promoting the synthesis and deposition of extracellular matrix proteins. However, persistence or overact...

The dynamic properties of the actin cytoskeleton in smooth muscle cells play an important role in a number of cardiovascular disease states. The state of actin does not only mediate mechanical stability and contractile function but can also regulate gene expression via myocardin related transcription factors (MRTFs). These transcriptional co-activators regulate genes encoding contractile and cy...

A functional vascular smooth-muscle actin from bovine aorta was purified to homogeneity by an original method and was able to polymerize. Aortic actin is composed of two major isoforms and at least two minor ones. This actin was not phosphorylated by either cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase or C kinase. The physical properties of aortic actin were found to be very similar to those of skeletal...

Cytoplasmic beta- and gamma-actin mRNAs as well as smooth muscle actin mRNAs have been shown to be transiently increased in rat uterus after treatment with the steroid hormone estradiol. A clone isolated as an estradiol-induced message from a lambda-gt10 cDNA library prepared from the mRNA of estrogen-stimulated immature rat uterus was identified as alpha-smooth muscle actin. A single-stranded ...