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Published on: September 22, 2011
RELMα can cause contraction of rat aortic smooth muscle cells
Xiaoyan Li1, Shuxiang Duan1, Hongming Zhang1
1Department of Cardiology, The General Hospital of Jinan Military Region Jinan 250031, China.
Objective:
This study aims to observe the contraction role of RELMα in rat aortic smooth muscle cells and explore its mechanism.
Methods:
Rat aortas smooth muscle cells were cultivated using tissue explants method. They were divided into 5 groups. A: Control group; B: 1×10(-7) mol/L ANGII group; C: 1×10(-8) mol/L RELMα group; D: 2×10(-8) mol/L RELMα group; E: 4×10(-8) mol/L RELMα group. The thoracic aortic tension signal of rats was recorded by Powerlab system. The expression levels of CaM and MLCK were detected by western blotting and RT-PCR methods.
Results:
Tension changes of rat thoracic aorta vascular ring in group C, D and E (72±2.98%, 76.65±2.73%, 85.07±3.06% respectively) were higher than that of group A and B (6.35±0.75%, 61.47±4.47%) with dose-dependent (P<0.01). The expression levels of CaM and MLCK in group C were higher than that of group A and B while were lower than that of group D and E (P<0.05). The expression levels of CaM and MLCK in group E were the highest among the groups (P<0.05).
Conclusions:
RELMα can cause contraction of rat aortic smooth muscle cells, its mechanism may be via Ca(2+)-CaM-MLCK pathway.
