Smooth muscle cells are maintained in a differentiated state in the vessel wall, but can be modulated to a synthetic phenotype following injury. Smooth muscle phenotypic modulation is thought to play an important role in the pathology of vascular occlusive diseases. Phenotypically modulated smooth muscle cells exhibit increased proliferative and migratory properties that accompany the downregul...

The nature of the Ca++-sensitive regulatory system for contraction of vascular smooth muscle is considered in detail. Smooth muscle actomyosin prepared from the medial layer of porcine aorta is analyzed chemically and its ATPase (adenosinetriphosphatase, EC 3.6.1.14) activities are investigated. The Mg++-ATPase of this vascular actomyosin is sensitive to the concentration of calcium in the rang...

BACKGROUND The aim of the present article is to report a case of ameloblastic carcinoma and use a marker alpha smooth muscle actin as a tool to differentiate cases of ameloblastic carcinoma from that of ameloblastoma. METHODS Case study reporting a case of ameloblastic carcinoma (AC) with expression of alpha smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) as a marker for emergence of stromal myofibroblasts. ...

PURPOSE Anterior subcapsular cataracts are characterized by the appearance of opaque plaques of abnormal cells. Distinctive spindle-shaped cells containing alpha-smooth muscle actin are present and are associated with wrinkling of the overlying lens capsule. Accumulations of extracellular matrix, including type I collagen, also are found. The authors previously reported that transforming growth...

Smooth muscle contraction is a dynamic process driven by acto-myosin interactions that are controlled by multiple regulatory proteins. Our studies have shown that members of the AP-1 transcription factor family control discrete behaviors of smooth muscle cells (SMC) such as growth, migration and fibrosis. However, the role of AP-1 in regulation of smooth muscle contractility is incompletely und...

Smooth muscle myosin (SMM) light chain kinase (MLCK) phosphorylates SMM, thereby activating the ATPase activity required for muscle contraction. The abundance of active MLCK, which is tightly associated with the contractile apparatus, is low relative to that of SMM. SMM phosphorylation is rapid despite the low ratio of MLCK to SMM, raising the question of how one MLCK rapidly phosphorylates man...

We report here on the purification and characterization of a new 25-kDa inhibitor of actin polymerization from turkey gizzard smooth muscle. The protein was purified by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose and hydroxyapatite, as well as by affinity chromatography on an immobilized-antibody column. The purified polypeptide reduced the low-shear viscosity of actin, apparently due to its inhibitory ef...