Cytokinesis partitions cytoplasmic and genomic materials at the end of cell division. Failure in this process causes polyploidy, which in turn can generate chromosomal instability, a hallmark of many cancers. Successful cytokinesis requires cooperative interaction between contractile ring and central spindle components, but how this cooperation is established is poorly understood. Here we show ...

OBJECTIVE The explore the mechanism responsible for diaphragmatic contractile and relaxation dysfunction in a rat model of sepsis. METHODS Thirty-six adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized equally into a sham-operated group and two model groups of sepsis induced by cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) for examination at 6 and 12 h following CLP (CLP-6 h and CLP-12 h groups). The paramete...

INTRODUCTION Contractile networks are fundamental to many cellular functions, particularly cytokinesis and cell motility. Contractile networks depend on myosin-II mechanochemistry to generate sliding force on the actin polymers. However, to be contractile, the networks must also be crosslinked by crosslinking proteins, and to change the shape of the cell, the network must be linked to the plasm...

Mohammadzadeh et al., (2023). SarcGraph: A Python package for analyzing the contractile behavior of pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Journal Open Source Software, 8(85), 5322, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.05322

objective: diabetes is an important risk factor for cardiovascular events. the great percent of morbidity in patients with diabetes is due to endothelial dysfunction. the present study investigated the effects of hydroalcholic extract of nigella sativa (n. sativa)  on contractile and dilatation response of isolated aorta in streptozotocin (stz)-induced diabetic rat. materials and methods: rats ...

artemisia species, growing in almost all the northern hemisphere, is used in folk medicine of some countries as a remedy for hypertension. since some cardiovascular disorders including hypertension are accompanied with altered responsiveness of vascular alpha-adrenergic receptors, the effect of aqueous artemisia annua extract (100 and 200 mg kg-1) on a1-adrenoceptor agonist-induced contraction ...

BACKGROUND & AIMS SRF (Serum Response Factor), a widely expressed transcription factor, controls expression of mitogen-responsive and muscle-specific genes, thereby regulating the contractile actin microfilament. Genetic Srf deletion studies showed SRF to be indispensable for in vivo skeletal and cardiac muscle cell development. We now investigated for the first time in vivo SRF functions in sm...

The centrioles of cnidarian sperm associate with striated specializations (pericentriolar processes) during spermiogenesis. Three functions have been proposed for the role of these structures: (a) an anchoring mechanism for the sperm flagellum, (b) a signal-transmitting mechanism for communication between sperm head and tal, and (c) a contractile mechanism involved in motor function of the sper...

BACKGROUND The pathogenesis of diverticular disease (DD) is thought to result from complex interactions among dietary habits, genetic factors and coexistence of other bowel abnormalities. These conditions lead to alterations in colonic pressure and motility, facilitating the formation of diverticula. Although electrophysiological studies on smooth muscle cells (SMCs) have investigated colonic m...

Actin-based contractility orchestrates changes in cell shape underlying cellular functions ranging from division to migration and wound healing. Actin also functions in intracellular transport, with the prevailing view that filamentous actin (F-actin) cables serve as tracks for motor-driven transport of cargo. We recently discovered an alternate mode of intracellular transport in starfish oocyt...