PMID: 3747448Sep 1, 1986Paper

Caveolar bands and the effects of sterol-binding agents in vascular smooth muscle plasma membrane. Single and double labeling with filipin and tomatin in the aorta, pulmonary artery, and vena cava

Laboratory Investigation; a Journal of Technical Methods and Pathology
N J Severs, H L Simons

Abstract

The effects of single and sequential double treatment with the sterol probes filipin and tomatin were investigated in relation to the distribution of caveolae (flask-shaped membrane invaginations) in the smooth muscle plasma membrane of rabbit aorta, pulmonary artery, and posterior vena cava. The principal structural characteristics of vascular smooth muscle caveolae are documented, and the effects of filipin are quantitatively evaluated and compared in the three vessel types. Aortic and pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells were found to resemble one another with respect to caveolar banding pattern and response to filipin. By comparison, however, the caveolar bands of vena cava smooth muscle were aligned with remarkable precision and regularity, and proved to be significantly (p less than 0.001) more sensitive to filipin than those of the arterial cells. The noncaveolar interband zones in all vessels were resistant to filipin action but sensitive to tomatin. Again, this sensitivity was more marked in vena cava smooth muscle than in arterial smooth muscle. The precision of caveolar banding, combined with the accentuated effects shown by each agent in the vena cava made the result of sequential double filipin-tomatin labeling out...Continue Reading

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