PMID: 3759970Oct 5, 1986Paper

Developmental changes in isoactin expression in rat aortic smooth muscle cells in vivo. Relationship between growth and cytodifferentiation.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry
G K Owens, M M Thompson

Abstract

There is an inverse relationship between cellular proliferation and smooth muscle alpha-isoactin expression in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) (Owens, G.K., Loeb, A., Gordon, D., and Thompson, M.M. (1986) J. Cell Biol. 102, 343-352). In the present studies, changes in isoactin expression were studied during developmental growth of rat aortic SMCs (ages 1-180 days) to better understand interrelationships between growth and cytodifferentiation in these cells in vivo. Actin expression (i.e. content and synthesis) was evaluated by one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and using isoactin-specific antibodies. The major actin present in cells from newborn rats was nonmuscle beta-actin (56% of total actin), whereas cells from adult animals contained principally smooth muscle alpha-actin (Sm-alpha-actin) (76% of total actin). Increases in Sm-alpha-actin content with increasing age were due, in part, to an increase in Sm-alpha-actin synthesis. However, in SMCs from 90- and 180-day-old rats, the fractional content of Sm-alpha-actin exceeded its fractional synthesis at a time when total Sm-alpha-actin content was increasing. This suggests that Sm-alpha-actin turns over more slowly in mature animals. Decreases in the fre...Continue Reading

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