We investigated whether platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), or its receptor (PDGF-R), was upregulated in a rat model of mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis. A marked increase in both PDGF A- and B-chain mRNA could be demonstrated in glomerular RNA by Northern blot analysis 3 and 5 days after disease induction, corresponding to the time of mesangial cell proliferation. PDGF-R beta-subu...

Hyperinsulinemia plays a major role in the pathogenesis of vascular disease. Restenosis occurs at an accelerated rate in hyperinsulinemia and is dependent on increased vascular smooth muscle cell movement from media to neointima. PDGF plays a critical role in mediating neointima formation in models of vascular injury. We have reported that PDGF increases the levels of protein tyrosine phosphata...

Morphological observations have shown previously that myotendinous junctions (MTJs) are sites where the associations between the cytoskeleton and the cell membrane are extensively remodelled during muscle growth and modified mechanical loading. The platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) molecule has been shown to induce cytoskeletal remodelling at focal contact sites of myoblasts in culture, the...

The proteolytic enzyme thrombin is produced during activation of the coagulation pathway. Intraglomerular fibrin deposition and thrombosis are common pathologic features of several glomerular diseases, including transplant rejection. The effect of thrombin on platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) production and DNA synthesis in well characterized bovine glomerular endothelial cells (G/endo) was...

The recruitment of perivascular cells to developing microvessels is a key component of microvessel assembly. Whereas platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) signaling is critical for this process during embryonic development, its role from the postnatal stages through adulthood remains unclear. We investigated the potential role of PDGF signaling during microvessel assembly by measuring in vivo t...

Purified human platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) induces an increase in amino acid uptake via system A in quiescent human diploid fibroblasts. Cells must be exposed to PDGF for 45 min to obtain maximum transport stimulation. Transport stimulation requires protein synthesis. Transient exposure to PDGF, alone, in the absence of plasma components can stimulate transport. Acid-insoluble [3H]leu...

Branching morphogenesis of many organs, including lung, has been shown to take place in response to epithelial-mesenchymal tissue interactions (Rudnick, 1933; Wessels, 1977). The molecular signals guiding branching morphogenesis are largely unknown. As branching morphogenesis involves cell proliferation, migration and differentiation, the ontogenic sequence of these events in early lung organog...

Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), the calcium ionophore A23187, and the tumor promoter phorbol myristate acetate stimulated c-fos mRNA levels in control NIH 3T3 cells. However, NIH 3T3 cells transformed by EJ-ras DNA transfection, which have diminished PDGF-stimulated phospholipase C activity, showed a 95% reduction in PDGF-stimulated c-fos mRNA levels. The responses to A23187 and phorbol ...

Life in the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) world used to be simple for the last twenty years. The system consisted of two PDGF chains, PDGF-A and -B, that are secreted as homodimers or heterodimers and bind to dimeric PDGF receptors composed of and/or -chains. Whereas PDGF-A binds to the -chain only, PDGF-B is a ligand for all receptor types (1). Recently, EST database homology searching...

Hypertension-associated growth of vascular smooth muscle cells might be mediated in vivo by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). Our previous investigations in hypertensive rats failed to demonstrate changes in aortic steady-state mRNA levels of PDGF A or B chains. The current studies were performed to determine whether hypertension might affect the expression of PDGF receptors. We studied PD...