Direct evidence for functional smooth muscle myosin II in the 10S self-inhibited monomeric conformation in airway smooth muscle cells.

ABSTRACT: The 10S self-inhibited monomeric conformation of myosin II has been characterized extensively in vitro. Based upon its structural and functional characteristics, it has been proposed to be an assembly-competent myosin pool in equilibrium with filaments in cells. It is known that myosin filaments can assemble and disassemble in nonmuscle cells, and in some smooth muscle cells, but whether or not the disassembled pool contains functional 10S myosin has not been determined. Here we address this question using human airway smooth muscle cells (hASMCs). Using two antibodies against different epitopes on smooth muscle myosin II (SMM), two distinct pools of SMM, diffuse, and stress-fiber-associated, were visualized by immunocytochemical staining. The two SMM pools were functional in that they cou

SUBMITTER: Milton DL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3029703 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature