Disruption of actin cytoskeleton mediates loss of tensile stress induced early phenotypic modulation of vascular smooth muscle cells in organ culture.

ABSTRACT: Aorta organ culture has been widely used as an ex vivo model for studying vessel pathophysiology. Recent studies show that the vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) in organ culture undergo drastic dedifferentiation within the first few hours (termed early phenotypic modulation). Loss of tensile stress to which aorta is subject in vivo is the cause of this early phenotypic modulation. However, no underlying molecular mechanism has been discovered thus far. The purpose of the present study is to identify intracellular signals involved in the early phenotypic modulation of VSMC in organ culture. We find that the drastic VSMC dedifferentiation is accompanied by accelerated actin cytoskeleton dynamics and downregulation of SRF and myocardin. Among the variety of signal pathways examined, increa

SUBMITTER: Zheng JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2815224 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature