Korean J Physiol Pharmacol.  1999 Dec;3(6):597-603.

The transfection of caldesmon DNA into primary cultured rat aortic vascular smooth muscle

• Choi W
• Ahn HY

Abstract

Caldesmon (CaD), one of microfilament-associated proteins, plays a key role in microfilament assembly in mitosis. We have investigated the effects of overexpression of the high molecular weight isoform of CaD (h-CaD) on the physiology of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Rat aortic VSMCs were stably transfected with plasmids carrying a full length human h-CaD cDNA under control of cytomegalovirus promoter. The majority of the overexpressed h-CaD appears to be localized predominantly on cytoskeleton structures as determined by detergent lysis. The overexpression of h-CaD, however, does not decrease the level of endogenous low molecular weight isoform of CaD. h-CaD overexpressing VSMCs (h-CaD/VSMCs) show a decreased growth rate than that of vector-only transfected cells when determined by (3H)thymidine uptake and cell counting after fetal bovine serum (FBS) stimulation. h-CaD/VSMCs were smaller than vector-transfected cells by 18% in cell diameter. These data suggest that overexpression of h-CaD can inhibit the poliferation and the cell volume of VSMCs stimulated by growth factors and that the gene therapy with h-CaD may be helpful to prevent the conditions associated with hypertrophy and/or hyperplasia of VSMCs after arterial injuries.

Keyword

Caldesmon; Overexpression; Vascular smooth muscle cell; Growth inhibition; Cell volume decrease

MeSH Terms

Actin Cytoskeleton
Animals
Calmodulin-Binding Proteins*
Cell Count
Cell Size
Cytomegalovirus
Cytoskeleton
Detergents
DNA*
DNA, Complementary
Genetic Therapy
Humans
Hyperplasia
Hypertrophy
Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins
Mitosis
Molecular Weight
Muscle, Smooth, Vascular*
Physiology
Plasmids
Rats*
Transfection*
Calmodulin-Binding Proteins
DNA
DNA, Complementary
Detergents
Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins