Effects of Cell Passage Number and Density on Phenotypic Remodeling in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Abstract: To investigate the effects and mechanisms of cell passage number and density on phenotypic remodeling ability of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs)， cytoskeleton organization and contractile ability in VSMCs at different passage number and density were observed， and the changes of content and ratio of contractile proteins in cytoskeleton were detected. The results showed that low passage (passage 3) VSMCs at high density following serum deprivation were tending to form bundled and polar stress fibres， and their contractile ability induced by acetylcholine (Ach) was significantly higher than that in other groups. Western blot displayed that relative amount of smooth muscle 22α (SM22α) in F-actin fraction and its ratio in F-/G-actin fraction in passage 3 VSMCs at high density were remarkably higher than that in VSMCs at passage 8. In conclusion， distribution of SM22α in F-actin fraction may determine the organization of stress fibres， which is a key factor for contraction ability of VSMCs. This protein may play an important role in VSMCs phenotypic remodeling.
    

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2007.03.0024