Millipore Sigma Vibrant Logo
 

smooth-muscle-cells


464 Results Advanced Search  
Showing
Products (7)
Documents (456)
Site Content (1)
Can't Find What You're Looking For?
Contact Customer Service

 

  • Induction of smooth muscle cells in the fibrous capsule of human hepatocellular carcinoma but not in the septa of hepatic cirrhosis. 10389624

    We examined the expression of smooth muscle cytoskeleton in spindle-shaped cells in the capsule of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and the septa of liver cirrhosis (LC). Serial sections of livers resected from 11 patients were stained with monoclonal antibodies against vimentin, desmin, smooth muscle actin (1A4, HHF35, CGA7) and smooth muscle myosin heavy chain isoforms (SM1, SM2). Capsular spindle-shaped cells exhibited a cytoskeletal feature indicative of intermediately differentiated smooth muscle cells. Computer-assisted morphometry revealed that the proportions of 1A4-, HHF35-, CGA7- and SM1- positive areas to vimentin-positive area were 88.0+/-11.0%, 50.8+/-17.4%, 25.3+/-16.4% and 19.4+/-12.4% (n=11) in main tumours and 86.6+/-9.4%, 50.9+/-18.7%, 21.1+/-12.3% and 17.6+/-9.7% (n=12) in daughter tumours, indicating that spindle-shaped cells are heterogeneous in cytoskeletal expression. Septal spindle-shaped cells in LC lacked the cytoskeletal proteins specific to differentiated smooth muscle cells (CGA7, SM1, SM2 and desmin). Electron microscopically, capsular spindle-shaped cells contained more microfilaments and less rough endoplasmic reticulum than do septal cells. Intermediately differentiated smooth muscle cells are induced in the capsule of HCC but not in the septa of LC, suggesting a role for stromal interaction by tumour cells in the induction of smooth muscle cells.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    MAB1522
    Product Catalog Name:
    Anti-Actin Antibody, smooth muscle γ & α actin, clone CGA7

  • Extensive loss of arterial medial smooth muscle cells and mural extracellular matrix in cerebral autosomal recessive arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencep ... 18021191

    Cerebral autosomal recessive arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CARASIL) is a distinctive clinicopathologic entity characterized by young adult-onset non-hypertensive vasculopathic encephalopathy accompanied by alopecia and disco-vertebral degeneration. CARASIL arteriopathy is histopathologically characterized by intense arteriosclerosis without the deposition of granular osmiophilic materials. Until now, the obliterative arteriosclerosis is the presumptive cause of subcortical ischemia in CARASIL; however, a detailed vascular pathology leading to diffuse leukoencephalopathy remains unclear. In this study, we examined two autopsied CARASIL brains in comparison with an autopsy case of cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL). Intensity of arterial sclerotic changes of CARASIL was evaluated by sclerotic index analysis. Immunohistochemical investigations were performed using a battery of primary antibodies, which recognized vascular cellular and extracellular components. As a result, sclerotic changes were disclosed to be mild and infrequent in CARASIL, in contrast to CADASIL that showed severe obliterative arterial changes. In CARASIL, conversely, most of the arteries were centrifugally enlarged and some were collapsed. We further revealed that arterial medial smooth muscle cells (SMCs) in patients with CARASIL were extensively lost, even in arteries without sclerotic changes. Arterial adventitia in CARASIL was conspicuously thin and immunoreactivities for type I, III, and VI collagens and fibronectin were appreciably weak in this region, indicating a reduction in the mural extracellular matrix (ECM). Because of the medial and adventitial degeneration, CARASIL brains likely receive marked fluctuations in blood flow because of deviations in the structural and functional basis of autoregulation mechanisms. We thus consider that diffuse leukoencephalopathy in CARASIL may be caused by arterial medial SMC loss with mural ECM reduction. We speculate that the abnormalities in the ECM are causatively related to the SMC degeneration, since the ECM is a crucial signal determining the biophysiological properties of arterial SMCs.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    MAB3568
    Product Catalog Name:
    Anti-Myosin Antibody, smooth muscle heavy chain, SM1 & SM2, clone ID8

  • Embryonic rat vascular smooth muscle cells revisited - a model for neonatal, neointimal SMC or differentiated vascular stem cells? 24628920

    The A10 and A7r5 cell lines derived from the thoracic aorta of embryonic rat are widely used as models of non-differentiated, neonatal and neointimal vascular smooth muscle cells in culture. The recent discovery of resident multipotent vascular stem cells within the vessel wall has necessitated the identity and origin of these vascular cells be revisited. In this context, we examined A10 and A7r5 cell lines to establish the similarities and differences between these cell lines and multipotent vascular stem cells isolated from adult rat aortas by determining their differentiation state, stem cell marker expression and their multipotency potential in vitro.Vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation markers (alpha-actin, myosin heavy chain, calponin) and stem cell marker expression (Sox10, Sox17 and S100β) were assessed using immunocytochemistry, confocal microscopy, FACS analysis and real-time quantitative PCR.Both A10 and A7r5 expressed vascular smooth muscle differentiation, markers, smooth muscle alpha - actin, smooth muscle myosin heavy chain and calponin. In parallel analysis, multipotent vascular stem cells isolated from rat aortic explants were immunocytochemically myosin heavy chain negative but positive for the neural stem cell markers Sox10+, a neural crest marker, Sox17+ the endoderm marker, and the glia marker, S100β+. This multipotent vascular stem cell marker profile was detected in both embryonic vascular cell lines in addition to the adventitial progenitor stem cell marker, stem cell antigen-1, Sca1+. Serum deprivation resulted in a significant increase in stem cell and smooth muscle cell differentiation marker expression, when compared to serum treated cells. Both cell types exhibited weak multipotency following adipocyte inductive stimulation. Moreover, Notch signaling blockade following γ-secretase inhibition with DAPT enhanced the expression of both vascular smooth muscle and stem cell markers.We conclude that A10 and A7r5 cells share similar neural stem cell markers to both multipotent vascular stem cells and adventitial progenitors that are indicative of neointimal stem-derived smooth muscle cells. This may have important implications for their use in examining vascular contractile and proliferative phenotypes in vitro.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    Multiple
    Product Catalog Name:
    Multiple

  • Connexin isoform expression in smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells of hamster cheek pouch arterioles and retractor feed arteries. 19086260

    Gap junction channels formed by connexin (Cx) protein subunits enable cell-to-cell conduction of vasoactive signals. Given the lack of quantitative measurements of Cx expression in microvascular endothelial cells (EC) and smooth muscle cells (SMC), the objective was to determine whether Cx expression differed between EC and SMC of resistance microvessels for which conduction is well-characterized.Cheek pouch arterioles (CPA) and retractor feed arteries (RFA) were hand-dissected and dissociated to obtain SMC or endothelial tubes. In complementary experiments, small intestine was dissociated to obtain SMC. Following reverse transcription, quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) was performed by using specific primers and fluorescent probes for Cx37, Cx40, and Cx43. Smooth muscle alpha-actin (SMAA) and platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) served as respective reference genes.Transcript copy numbers were similar for each Cx isoform in EC from CPA and RFA (approximately 0.5 Cx/PECAM-1). For SMC, Cx43 transcript in CPA and RFA (less than 0.1 Cx/SMAA) was less (p less than 0.05) than that in small intestine (approximately 0.4 Cx/SMAA). Transcripts for Cx37 and Cx40 were also detected in SMC. Punctate immunolabeling for each Cx isoform was pronounced at EC borders and that for Cx43 was pronounced in SMC of small intestine. In contrast, Cx immunolabeling was not detected in SMC of CPA or RFA.Connexin expression occurs primarily within the endothelium of arterioles and feed arteries, supporting a highly effective pathway for conducting vasoactive signals along resistance networks. The apparent paucity of Cx expression within SMC underscores discrete homocellular coupling and focal localization of myoendothelial gap junctions.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    AB1726
    Product Catalog Name:
    Anti-Connexin 40 Antibody

  • Expression of caveolin-3 in skeletal, cardiac, and smooth muscle cells. Caveolin-3 is a component of the sarcolemma and co-fractionates with dystrophin and dystrophin-ass ... 8663016

    Caveolae are microdomains of the plasma membrane that have been implicated in signal transduction. Caveolin, a 21-24-kDa integral membrane protein, is a principal component of the caveolae membrane. Recently, we and others have identified a family of caveolin-related proteins; caveolin has been retermed caveolin-1. Caveolin-3 is most closely related to caveolin-1, but caveolin-3 mRNA is expressed only in muscle tissue types. Here, we examine (i) the expression of caveolin-3 protein in muscle tissue types and (ii) its localization within skeletal muscle fibers by immunofluorescence microscopy and subcellular fractionation. For this purpose, we generated a novel monoclonal antibody (mAb) probe that recognizes the unique N-terminal region of caveolin-3, but not other members of the caveolin gene family. A survey of tissues and muscle cell types by Western blot analysis reveals that the caveolin-3 protein is selectively expressed only in heart and skeletal muscle tissues, cardiac myocytes, and smooth muscle cells. Immunolocalization of caveolin-3 in skeletal muscle fibers demonstrates that caveolin-3 is localized to the sarcolemma (muscle cell plasma membrane) and coincides with the distribution of another muscle-specific plasma membrane marker protein, dystrophin. In addition, caveolin-3 protein expression is dramatically induced during the differentiation of C2C12 skeletal myoblasts in culture. Using differentiated C2C12 skeletal myoblasts as a model system, we observe that caveolin-3 co-fractionates with cytoplasmic signaling molecules (G-proteins and Src-like kinases) and members of the dystrophin complex (dystrophin, alpha-sarcoglycan, and beta-dystroglycan), but is clearly separated from the bulk of cellular proteins. Caveolin-3 co-immunoprecipitates with antibodies directed against dystrophin, suggesting that they are physically associated as a discrete complex. These results are consistent with previous immunoelectron microscopic studies demonstrating that dystrophin is localized to plasma membrane caveolae in smooth muscle cells.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    06-591

  • Enhanced levels of microRNA-125b in vascular smooth muscle cells of diabetic db/db mice lead to increased inflammatory gene expression by targeting the histone methyltran ... 20699419

    Diabetes remains a major risk factor for vascular complications that seem to persist even after achieving glycemic control, possibly due to "metabolic memory." Using cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (MVSMC) from type 2 diabetic db/db mice, we recently showed that decreased promoter occupancy of the chromatin histone H3 lysine-9 methyltransferase Suv39h1 and the associated repressive epigenetic mark histone H3 lysine-9 trimethylation (H3K9me3) play key roles in sustained inflammatory gene expression. Here we examined the role of microRNAs (miRs) in Suv39h1 regulation and function in MVSMC from diabetic mice.We used luciferase assays with Suv39h1 3'untranslated region (UTR) reporter constructs and Western blotting of endogenous protein to verify that miR-125b targets Suv39h1. We examined the effects of Suv39h1 targeting on inflammatory gene expression by quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), and H3K9me3 levels at their promoters by chromatin immunoprecipitation assays.We observed significant upregulation of miR-125b with parallel downregulation of Suv39h1 protein (predicted miR-125b target) in MVSMC cultured from diabetic db/db mice relative to control db/+. miR-125b mimics inhibited both Suv39h1 3'UTR luciferase reporter activity and endogenous Suv39h1 protein levels. Conversely, miR-125b inhibitors showed opposite effects. Furthermore, miR-125b mimics increased expression of inflammatory genes, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, and interleukin-6, and reduced H3K9me3 at their promoters in nondiabetic cells. Interestingly, miR-125b mimics increased monocyte binding to db/+ MVSMC toward that in db/db MVSMC, further imitating the proinflammatory diabetic phenotype. In addition, we found that the increase in miR-125b in db/db VSMC is caused by increased transcription of miR-125b-2.These results demonstrate a novel upstream role for miR-125b in the epigenetic regulation of inflammatory genes in MVSMC of db/db mice through downregulation of Suv39h1.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    Multiple
    Product Catalog Name:
    Multiple

  • Kv7 potassium channels in airway smooth muscle cells: signal transduction intermediates and pharmacological targets for bronchodilator therapy. 21964407

    Expression and function of Kv7 (KCNQ) voltage-activated potassium channels in guinea pig and human airway smooth muscle cells (ASMCs) were investigated by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), patch-clamp electrophysiology, and precision-cut lung slices. qRT-PCR revealed expression of multiple KCNQ genes in both guinea pig and human ASMCs. Currents with electrophysiological and pharmacological characteristics of Kv7 currents were measured in freshly isolated guinea pig and human ASMCs. In guinea pig ASMCs, Kv7 currents were significantly suppressed by application of the bronchoconstrictor agonists methacholine (100 nM) or histamine (30 μM), but current amplitudes were restored by addition of a Kv7 channel activator, flupirtine (10 μM). Kv7 currents in guinea pig ASMCs were also significantly enhanced by another Kv7.2-7.5 channel activator, retigabine, and by celecoxib and 2,5-dimethyl celecoxib. In precision-cut human lung slices, constriction of airways by histamine was significantly reduced in the presence of flupirtine. Kv7 currents in both guinea pig and human ASMCs were inhibited by the Kv7 channel blocker XE991. In human lung slices, XE991 induced robust airway constriction, which was completely reversed by addition of the calcium channel blocker verapamil. These findings suggest that Kv7 channels in ASMCs play an essential role in the regulation of airway diameter and may be targeted pharmacologically to relieve airway hyperconstriction induced by elevated concentrations of bronchoconstrictor agonists.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    AB5599

  • Phenotypic changes of human smooth muscle cells during development: late expression of heavy caldesmon and calponin. 1397676

    Expression of the regulatory contractile proteins, heavy caldesmon (h-caldesmon) and calponin was studied in human aortic smooth muscle cells (SMCs) during development and compared with the expression of alpha-SM-actin and smooth muscle-myosin heavy chain (SM-MHCs). For this study, novel monoclonal antibodies specific to SM-MHCs, h-caldesmon, and calponin were developed and characterized. Aortic SMCs from fetuses of 8-10 and 20-22 weeks of gestation express alpha-SM-actin and SM-MHCs, but neither h-caldesmon nor calponin were expressed as demonstrated by immunoblotting and immunofluorescence techniques. In the adult aortic tunica media, SMCs contain all four markers. Thus, the expression of calponin, similar to the expression of alpha-SM-actin, SM-MHCs, and h-caldesmon, is developmentally regulated in aortic SMCs. In the adult aortic subendothelial (preluminal) part of tunica intima, numerous cells containing SM-MHCs, but lacking h-caldesmon and calponin, were found. These results illustrate the similarity of SMCs from intimal thickenings and immature (fetal) SMCs. Expression of contractile proteins in the developing SMCs is coordinately regulated; however, distinct groups of proteins appear to exist whose expression is regulated differently. Actin and myosin, being major contractile proteins, also play a structural role and appear rather early in development, whereas caldesmon and calponin, being involved in regulation of contraction, can serve as markers of higher SMC differentiation steps. In contrast, h-caldesmon and calponin were already present in visceral SMCs (trachea, esophagus) of the 10-week-old fetus. These results demonstrate that the time course of maturation of visceral SMCs is different from that of vascular SMCs.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    MAB3576
    Product Catalog Name:
    Anti-Caldesmon Antibody, smooth muscle, clone N5/22

  • Proteomic and metabolomic analysis of smooth muscle cells derived from the arterial media and adventitial progenitors of apolipoprotein E-deficient mice. 18388323

    We have recently demonstrated that stem cell antigen 1-positive (Sca-1(+)) progenitors exist in the vascular adventitia of apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoE(-/-)) mice and contribute to smooth muscle cell (SMC) accumulation in vein graft atherosclerosis. Using a combined proteomic and metabolomic approach, we now characterize these local progenitors, which participate in the formation of native atherosclerotic lesions in chow-fed apoE(-/-) mice. Unlike Sca-1(+) progenitors from embryonic stem cells, the resident Sca-1(+) stem cell population from the vasculature acquired a mature aortic SMC phenotype after platelet-derived growth factor-BB stimulation. It shared proteomic and metabolomic characteristics of apoE(-/-) SMCs, which were clearly distinct from wild-type SMCs under normoxic and hypoxic conditions. Among the differentially expressed proteins were key enzymes in glucose metabolism, resulting in faster glucose consumption and a compensatory reduction in baseline interleukin-6 secretion. The latter was associated with a marked upregulation of insulin-like growth factor binding proteins (IGFBPs) 3 and 6. Notably, reconstitution of interleukin-6 to levels measured in the conditioned medium of wild-type SMCs attenuated the elevated IGFBP expression in apoE(-/-) SMCs and their vascular progenitors. This coregulation of apoE, interleukin-6, and IGFBPs was replicated in wild-type SMCs from hypercholesterolemic mice and confirmed by silencing apoE expression in SMCs from normocholesterolemic mice. In summary, we provide evidence that Sca-1(+) progenitors contribute to native atherosclerosis in apoE(-/-) mice, that apoE deficiency and hypercholesterolemia alter progenitor cell behavior, and that inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6 act as metabolic regulators in SMCs of hyperlipidemic mice.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    MAB4301
    Product Catalog Name:
    Anti-Stage-Specific Embryonic Antigen-1 Antibody, clone MC-480

  • Mesenchymal cell precursors of peritubular smooth muscle cells of the mouse testis can be identified by the presence of the p75 neurotrophin receptor. 11159348

    In the mouse embryo, at approximately 11.5 days postcoitum (dpc), cells migrate from the mesonephros into the developing testis to contribute to the somatic population of the interstitial compartment (i.e., peritubular myoid cells, Leydig cells, and endothelial cells). Studies from this laboratory have shown that the interstitial population of mesenchymal cells in fetal and newborn mouse testis express the p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR, formerly known as the low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor); part of the cell population progressively congregates around testis cords, later to be replaced by contractile peritubular myoid cells, which express smooth muscle cell markers. In the present study, we show that the migrating cells and the p75NTR-expressing cells are the same population. We also show that the neurotrophin receptor is a useful endogenous marker to follow cell migration within the urogenital ridge and to identify and isolate mesenchymal precursors of myoid cells. A time-course immunolocalization study of the location of p75NTR-bearing cells within the urogenital ridge of mouse embryos between 10.5 and 12.5 dpc showed that the interstitium of the fetal testis was progressively occupied by p75NTR+ cells. The progressive increase of p75NTR expression within the developing testis was confirmed by immunoblot analysis of proteins isolated from the fetal gonads. Organ cultures of isolated testes or testis-mesonephros grafts confirmed that p75NTR+ cells do not appear in the testis unless a mesonephros is attached to it. Cells bearing the p75NTR receptor, purified from 12.5-dpc male mouse mesonephroi by immunomagnetic sorting, were able to differentiate in vitro into myoid cells. Immunofluorescence analysis of postnatal testis sections confirmed the presence around the tubules of cells coexpressing p75NTR and alpha-smooth muscle actin. The ability to identify and purify precursors of myoid cells may be of considerable help for studying the mechanisms regulating their differentiation.
    Document Type:
    Reference
    Product Catalog Number:
    AB1554
    Product Catalog Name:
    Anti-Nerve Growth Factor Receptor Antibody, p75