TGFβ1 reinforces arterial aging in the vascular smooth muscle cell through a long-range regulation of the cytoskeletal stiffness.

ABSTRACT: Here we report exquisitely distinct material properties of primary vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells isolated from the thoracic aorta of adult (8 months) vs. aged (30 months) F344XBN rats. Individual VSM cells derived from the aged animals showed a tense internal network of the actin cytoskeleton (CSK), exhibiting increased stiffness (elastic) and frictional (loss) moduli than those derived from the adult animals over a wide frequency range of the imposed oscillatory deformation. This discrete mechanical response was long-lived in culture and persistent across a physiological range of matrix rigidity. Strikingly, the pro-fibrotic transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1) emerged as a specific modifier of age-associated VSM stiffening in vitro. TGFβ1 reinforced the mechanical phenotype of arte

SUBMITTER: Zhu W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5805716 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature