Skip to main content
Log in

Expression of calponin in rabbit and human aortic smooth muscle cells

  • Published:
Cell and Tissue Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

Polyclonal antibodies to chicken gizzard calponin were used to localize calponin and determine calponin expression in rabbit and human aortic smooth muscle cells in culture. Calponin was localized on the microfilament bundles of cultured smooth muscle cells. Early in primary culture,ccalponin staining was accumulated preferentially in the central part of the cell body. With time in culture, the number of calponin-negative smooth muscle cells increased while the distribution of calponin in calponin-positive cells became more even along the stress fibers. Calponin content and the calponin/actin ratio decreased about 5-fold in rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells during the first week in primary culture and remained low in proliferating cells. The same tendency in calponin expression was observed when human vascular smooth muscle was studied. On cryostat sections of human umbilical cord, calponin antibodies mainly stained vessel walls of both the arteries and veins, although less intensive labelling was also observed in non-vascular tissue. When primary isolates of human aortic intimal and medial smooth muscle cells were compared with corresponding passaged cultures, it was found that calponin content was reduced about 9-fold in these cells in culture and was similar to the amount of calponin in endothelial cells and fibroblasts. Thus, high calponin expression may be used as an additional marker of vascular smooth muscle cell contractile phenotype.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abe M, Takahashi K, Hiwada K (1990) Effect of calponin on actin-activated myosin ATPase activity. J Biochem 108:835–838

    Google Scholar 

  • Belkin AM, Ornatsky OL, Kabakov AE, Glukhova MA, Koteliansky VE (1988) Diversity of vinculin/meta-vinculin in human tissues and cultivated cells. J Biol Chem 263:6631–6635

    Google Scholar 

  • Chamley-Campbell J, Campbell GR, Ross R (1979) The smooth muscle cell in culture. Physiol Rev 59:1–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabbiani G, Kocher O, Bloom WS, Vandekerckhove J, Weber K (1984) Actin expression in smooth muscle cells of rat aortic intimal thickening, human athermatous plaque, and cultured rat aortic media. J Clin Invest 73:148–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Gimona M, Herzog M, Vandekerckhove J, Small JV (1990) Smooth muscle specific expression of calponin. FEBS Lett 274:159–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Laemmli UK (1970) Cleavage of structural protein during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature 227:680–685

    Google Scholar 

  • Shirinsky VP, Birukov KG, Koteliansky VE, Glukhova MA, Spanidis E, Rogers JD, Campbell JH, Campbell GR (1991) Densityrelated expression of caldesmon and vinculin in cultured rabbit aortic smooth muscle cells. Exp Cell Research 194:186–189

    Google Scholar 

  • Sternberger LA (1986) Immunochemistry, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Sutherland C, Winder SJ, Walsh MP (1990) Smooth muscle calponin: inhibition of skeletal actomyosin ATPase and effect of caldesmon. J Cell Biol 111:429a

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi K, Hiwada K, Kokubu T (1986) Isolation and characterization of a 34000-dalton calmodulin-and F-actin-binding protein from chicken gizzard smooth muscle. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 141:20–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi K, Hiwada K, Kokubu T (1987) Occurrence of antigizzard p34k antibody cross-reactive components in bovine smooth muscles and non-muscle tissues. Life Sci 41:291–296

    Google Scholar 

  • Takahashi K, Hiwada K, Kokubu T (1988) Vascular smooth muscle calponin a novel troponin T-like protein. Hypertension 11, 2:620–626

    Google Scholar 

  • Towbin H, Staehelin T, Gordon J (1979) Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: produre and some applications. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 76:4350–4354

    Google Scholar 

  • Winder SJ, Walsh MP (1990) Smooth muscle calponin. Inhibition of actomyosin MgATPase and regulation by phosphorylation. J Biol Chem 265:10148–10155

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Birukov, K.G., Stepanova, O.V., Nanaev, A.K. et al. Expression of calponin in rabbit and human aortic smooth muscle cells. Cell Tissue Res 266, 579–584 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318599

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318599

Key words

Navigation