First Entry into M Phase Causes a Large Accumulation of Non-Muscle Myosin in Rat Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

1991 ◽  
Vol 80 (s24) ◽  
pp. 4P-4P
Author(s):  
DJ Grainger ◽  
TR Hesketh ◽  
JC Metcalfe ◽  
PL Weissberg
1991 ◽  
Vol 277 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
D J Grainger ◽  
T R Hesketh ◽  
J C Metcalfe ◽  
P L Weissberg

Vascular smooth-muscle cells (VSMCs) from rat aortae contained very little non-muscle myosin heavy chain (MHC) immediately after dispersal, and the protein did not accumulate if the cells were held in G0/G1 phase by withholding serum or were held in first S phase by the addition of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU). However, non-muscle MHC accumulated by greater than 20-fold per cell during first M phase, when over 80% of the cells divided between 48 h and 72 h after addition of serum. Delaying the addition of serum caused a delay in the accumulation of the non-muscle MHC until the cells subsequently entered M phase. If the cells were held in M phase at the metaphase/anaphase boundary by nocadazole, the accumulation of non-muscle myosin still occurred, although division was blocked. When the cells were pulse-labelled with [35S]methionine, it was found that non-muscle MHC was one of the major proteins being made and that its synthesis occurred at similar rates throughout the cell cycle. This implied that the rate of degradation of the protein before first M phase was much faster than in M phase, when the protein accumulated rapidly. This was confirmed by direct measurements of the rate at which [35S]methionine-labelled non-muscle MHC disappeared from the cells, which gave a half-life for the protein of about 8 h before M phase but about 5 days in post-mitotic cells, i.e. an increase of approx. 15-fold. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that there is a mechanism in VSMCs which shortens the half-life of the protein before first M phase and that the accumulation of non-muscle MHC which results from the increase in half-life at first M phase may be necessary for division of these cells.


2008 ◽  
Vol 294 (5) ◽  
pp. H2060-H2068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Hui Wang ◽  
Hideyuki Tanaka ◽  
Xiaoran Qin ◽  
Tiejun Zhao ◽  
Li-Hong Ye ◽  
...  

Blebbistatin is a myosin II-specific inhibitor. However, the mechanism and tissue specificity of the drug are not well understood. Blebbistatin blocked the chemotaxis of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) toward sphingosylphosphorylcholine (IC50 = 26.1 ± 0.2 and 27.5 ± 0.5 μM for GbaSM-4 and A7r5 cells, respectively) and platelet-derived growth factor BB (IC50 = 32.3 ± 0.9 and 31.6 ± 1.3 μM for GbaSM-4 and A7r5 cells, respectively) at similar concentrations. Immunofluorescence and fluorescent resonance energy transfer analysis indicated a blebbistatin-induced disruption of the actin-myosin interaction in VSMCs. Subsequent experiments indicated that blebbistatin inhibited the Mg2+-ATPase activity of the unphosphorylated (IC50 = 12.6 ± 1.6 and 4.3 ± 0.5 μM for gizzard and bovine stomach, respectively) and phosphorylated (IC50 = 15.0 ± 0.6 μM for gizzard) forms of purified smooth muscle myosin II, suggesting a direct effect on myosin II motor activity. It was further observed that the Mg2+-ATPase activities of gizzard myosin II fragments, heavy meromyosin (IC50 = 14.4 ± 1.6 μM) and subfragment 1 (IC50 = 5.5 ± 0.4 μM), were also inhibited by blebbistatin. Assay by in vitro motility indicated that the inhibitory effect of blebbistatin was reversible. Electron-microscopic evaluation showed that blebbistatin induced a distinct conformational change (i.e., swelling) of the myosin II head. The results suggest that the site of blebbistatin action is within the S1 portion of smooth muscle myosin II.


1989 ◽  
Vol 61 (03) ◽  
pp. 517-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter E Laug ◽  
Ruedi Aebersold ◽  
Ambrose Jong ◽  
Willian Rideout ◽  
Barbara L Bergman ◽  
...  

SummaryLarge arteries have a natural resistance to tumor cell invasion thought to be due to the production of protease inhibitors. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) representing the major cellular part of arteries were isolated from human aortas and grown in tissue culture. These cells were found to produce large amounts of inhibitors of plasminogen activators (PA). Fractionation of VSMC-conditioned medium by heparin-affigel chromatography separated three immunologically and functionally distinct PA inhibitors (PAI), namely PAI-1, PAI-2 and protease-nexin I. The three inhibitors were characterized by functional assays and immunoblotting. PA inhibitor 2 (PAI-2) had little affinity for heparin, whereas PA inhibitor 1 (PAI-l) bound to heparin and was eluted from the column at NaCl concentrations of 0. 1 to 0.35 M. Protease-nexin I, eluted at NaCl concentrations of 0.5 M and higher. Most of the PAI-1 was present in the latent, inactive form. PAI-1 was further purified by ion exchange chromatography on a Mono-Q column. Partial sequencing of the purified PAI-1 confirmed its nature by matching completely with the sequence deduced from the cDNA nucleotide sequence of endothelial cell PAI-1. Thus, human VSMC produce all three presently known PAI and these can be separated in a single heparin affinity purification step.


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