• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.151-157
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• 1994

Intracellular free $Ca^{2+}$ contributes to regulation of various events occurring in vascular smooth muscle cells. One of these events is modulating the membrane iou currents. Single smooth muscle cells were isolated from rabbit mesenteric artery. Three kinds of $Ca^{2+}-activated\;current$ were studied with the patch clamp method. $Ca^{2+}-activated\;K^+\;current$ with a large oscillation was recorded in the depolarized potential range. The single channel conductance of this current was about 250 pS. It was abolished by replacing intracellular $K^+\;with\;Cs^+$. A $Ca^{2+}-activated$ nonselective cation current was observed in both the depolarized and hyperpolarized potential ranges. And it was blocked by replacement of extracellular $Na^+$ with N-methylglucamine (NMG) or extracellular application of $Cd^{2+}$. $Ca^{2+}-activated\;Cl^-\;current$ was revealed in the whole voltage range and was blocked by niflumic acid. These results indicate that at least three kinds of $Ca^{2+}-activated$ ionic currents exist in smooth muscle cells from rabbit superior mesenteric artery.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 1996

Bovine aortic smooth muscle cells cultured on the slide glass were exposed to sheared flow up to 120 hours in flow chamber to see the effect of shear stress on cell growth in wall shear stresses of 0 to 26dyn/$cm^2$. From lactate dehydrogenase concentration measurement of the circulating medium, it was shown that sheared flow in the shear stress range did not remove additional smooth muscle cells from the slide glass compared with cells in stationary condition. According to smooth muscle cell counting per$cm^2$ of the surface, smooth muscle cells grew fastest in the stationary condition. As the wall shear stress increased, the growth of cells became slower. When the wall shear stress increased over 17dyn/$cm^2$, cell growth was not observed throughout the experiment.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.160-165
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• 2023

Vascular calcification is common in cardiovascular diseases including atherosclerosis, and is associated with an increased risk of pathological events and mortality. Some semaphorin family members play an important role in atherosclerosis. In the present study, we show that Semaphorin 4D/Sema4D and its Plexin-B1 receptor were significantly upregulated in calcified aorta of a rat chronic kidney disease model. Significantly higher Sema4D and Plexin-B1 expression was also observed during inorganic phosphate-induced calcification of vascular smooth muscle cells. Knockdown of Sema4D or Plexin-B1 genes attenuated both the phosphate-induced osteogenic phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells, through regulation of SMAD1/5 signaling, as well as apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells, through modulation of the Gas6/Axl/Akt survival pathway. Taken together, our results offer new insights on the role of Sema4D and Plexin-B1 as potential therapeutic targets against vascular calcification.

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.40-43
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• 2000

Pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) and N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) are metal and nonmetal-chelating antioxidant which can induce rat and human smooth muscle cell death. When the smooth muscle cells from mouse aorta (MASMC) that we successfully cultured recently was exposed to PDTC and NAC in a normal serum state, the cells were induced to death by these compounds. However, PDTC did not induce the cell death in a serum depleted medium. This data suggests that certain factors in the serum may mediate the cytotoxic effect of PDTC. The metal chelator, Ca-EDTA blocked PDTC-induced cell death, but Cu-, Fe-, and Zn-EDTA did not block the PDTC-induced cell death. This data indicated that copper, iron, and zinc in the serum may lead to the cytotoxic effect of PDTC. Investigation of the intracellular zinc level in PDTC-induced smooth muscle cell death using the zinc probe dye N-(6-methoxy-8-quinolyl)-p-toluenesulfonamide shows that only the muscle-containing layers of the arteries have higher level of zinc. As expected, PDTC increased the intracellular fluorescence level of the zinc. In agreement with these results, the addition of an exogenous metal, zinc, induced the vascular aortic smooth muscle cell death which led to an increased intracellular zinc level. We concluded that PDTC induced mouse aortic smooth muscle cell death required not only zinc level but also intracellular copper and iron level. The mechanism of this antioxidant to induce vascular smooth muscle cell death may provide a new strategy to prevent their proliferation in arteriosclerotic lesions.

• Osteoporosis and Sarcopenia
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.140-155
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• 2016

Sex steroids influence the maintenance and growth of muscles. Decline in androgens, estrogens and progesterone by aging leads to the loss of muscular function and mass, sarcopenia. These steroid hormones can interact with different signaling pathways through their receptors. To date, sex steroid hormone receptors and their exact roles are not completely defined in skeletal and smooth muscles. Although numerous studies focused on the effects of sex steroid hormones on different types of cells, still many unexplained molecular mechanisms in both skeletal and smooth muscle cells remain to be investigated. In this paper, many different molecular mechanisms that are activated or inhibited by sex steroids and those that influence the growth, proliferation, and differentiation of skeletal and smooth muscle cells are reviewed. Also, the similarities of cellular and molecular pathways of androgens, estrogens and progesterone in both skeletal and smooth muscle cells are highlighted. The reviewed signaling pathways and participating molecules can be targeted in the future development of novel therapeutics.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.535-547
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• 2000

Recent findings indicate that mechanical strain (deformation) exerted by the extracellular matrix modulates activation of airway smooth muscle cells. Furthermore, cytoskeletal organization in airway smooth muscle appears to be dynamic, and subject to modulation by receptor activation and mechanical strain. Mechanosensitive modulation of crossbridge activation and cytoskeletal organization may represent intracellular feedback mechanisms that limit the shortening of airway smooth muscle during bronchoconstriction. Recent findings suggest that receptor-mediated signal transduction is the primary target of mechanosensitive modulation. Mechanical strain appears to regulate the number of functional G-proteins and/or phospholipase C enzymes in the cell membrane possibly by membrane trafficking and/or protein translocation. Dense plaques, membrane structures analogous to focal adhesions, appear to be the primary target of cytoskeletal regulation. Mechanical strain and receptor-binding appear to regulate the assembly and phosphorylation of dense plaque proteins in airway smooth muscle cells. Understanding these mechanisms may reveal new pharmacological targets for control1ing airway resistance in airway diseases.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.248.1-248.1
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• 2002

It has been shown that C2-ceramide (C2), short chain ceramide, plays a role in mediating contraction of cat esophageal smooth muscle cells. We examined the effect of newly synthesized ceramide analogues on the C2-ceramide induced contraction in esophageal smooth muscle cells isolated with collagenase. C2-ceramide produced contraction of smooth muscle cells in a dose dependent manner. (omitted)

• Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering:BBE
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.44-47
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• 2000

Cell growth and DNA synthesis were studied from a cultured early- and late- pas- sage mouse aorta smooth muscle cell (MASMC) because the proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) is a key factor in development of atherosclerosis. In this study, the cells were cultured in fetal bovine serum (FBS) and stimulated by growth factors such as thrombin and platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB). Compared to the number of early-passage MASMC (passage 3 to 9) the number of late-passage MASMC (passage 30 to 40) in a normal serum state was increased 2 fold at Day 1, 3 and 6 in culture, respectively. Incorporation of $[^3H]$ thymidine into DNA induced by serum, PDGF and thrombin in late-passage MASMC was greater than those in early-passage MASMC. We also examined whether intracellular zinc levels would be an aging factor or not. The intracellular zinc level in early- and late-passage MASMC was monitored by using the zinc probe dye N-(6-methoxy-8-quinolyl)-p-toluenesulfonamide. It is interested that late-passage MASMC increased the intracellular fluorescence level of zinc, more than the early passage MASMC did. The alterations of intracellular zinc level occur concurrently with changes in MASMC proliferation rate during aging. This data suggest that the age-associated changes in zinc concentrations may provide a new in vitro model for the study of smooth muscle cell differentiation.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.57 no.4
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• pp.265-271
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• 2013

Treatments of vascular disease via modulating the expression of specific proteins by gene transfer have been attempted in various studies over the past few years. Among several methods to deliver genes, adenovirus currently has been used because of a number of positive aspects. In this study, we test adenoviral vector as a potential mediator in the treatment of vascular disease by using freshly isolated vascular tissues not cultured vascular cells. Freshly isolated vascular tissues were directly exposed to adenoviral vector pAd5CMVmcsIRESeGFPpA to check the possibility of GFP expression in different layer of vascular tissues. We found that the GFP expression by using adenoviral vector experiments is mainly focused on the adventitia and failed to detect GFP expression at endothelial layer or vascular smooth muscle layer in vascular tissues. However, we also found that several integrin receptors are robustly expressed in vascular smooth muscle, thus the limited expression of protein in vascular smooth muscle are not likely the lack of integrin receptors. In conclusion, adenovirus could not be a good tool for a specific protein expression in vascular smooth muscle cell. Thus, the application of adenovirus as a tool for gene therapy of vascular smooth muscle cells in clinical therapeutic trial need to be optimized further.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.274.1-274.1
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• 2013

We report the circumferential alignment of human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) in an orthogonally micropatterned circular microfluidic channel to form an in vivo-like smooth muscle cell layer. To realize a biomimetic smooth muscle cell layer which is aligned perpendicular to the axis of blood vessel, we first fabricated a half-circular polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel by soft lithography using a convex PDMS mold. The orthogonally micro wrinkle patterns were generated inside the half-circular microchannel by stretching-releasing operation under UV irradiation. Upon UV treatment with uniaxial 40 % stretch of a PDMS substrate and releasing process, the microwrinkle patterns perpendicular to the axial direction of the circular microchannel were generated, which could guide the circumferential alignment of HASMCs successfully during cultivation. The analysis of orientation angle, shape index, and contractile protein marker expression indicates that the cultured HASMCs revealed the in vivo-like cell phenotype. Finally, we produced circular microchannels by bonding two half-circular microchannels, and cultured the HASMCs circumferentially with high alignment and viability for 5 days. These results are the first demonstration for constructing an in vivo-like 3D smooth muscle cell layer in the circular microfluidic channel which can provide novel bioassay platforms for in-depth study of HASMC biology and vascular function.