Whole animal knockout of smooth muscle alpha-actin does not alter excisional wound healing or the fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition.

ABSTRACT: The contractile phenotype and function of myofibroblasts have been proposed to play a critical role in wound closure. It has been hypothesized that smooth muscle α-actin expressed in myofibroblasts is critical for its formation and function. We have used smooth muscle α-actin-null mice to test this hypothesis. Full-thickness excisional wounds closed at a similar rate in smooth muscle α-actin-null and wild-type mice. In addition, fibroblasts in smooth muscle α-actin-null granulation tissue when immunostained with a monoclonal antibody that recognizes all muscle actin isoforms exhibited a myofibroblast-like distribution and a stress fiber-like pattern, showing that these cells acquired the myofibroblast phenotype. Dermal fibroblasts from smooth muscle α-actin-null and wild-type mice formed s

SUBMITTER: Tomasek JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3540133 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan-Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature