Isolation and Culture of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells from Small and Large Vessels

Primary culture of vascular smooth muscle cells is an important in vitro model for the dissection of molecular mechanisms related to a specific physiological or pathological response at the cellular level. Cultured cells also provide an excellent model to study cell biology. This chapter describes a user-friendly and practical protocol for isolation of vascular smooth muscle cells from small and large vessels by enzymatic dissociation, which can be applied to vessels from different species, including rodents and humans.