Endothelial cell activation of the smooth muscle cell phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt pathway promotes differentiation David J. Brown, MD, Eva M. Rzucidlo, MD, Bethany L. Merenick, BS, Robert J. Wagner, BS, Kathleen A. Martin, PhD, Richard J. Powell, MD Journal of Vascular Surgery Volume 41, Issue 3, Pages 509-516 (March 2005) DOI: 10.1016/j.jvs.2004.12.024 Copyright © 2005 The Society for Vascular Surgery Terms and Conditions
Fig 1 Co-culture with endothelial cells induces a differentiated smooth muscle cell (SMC) morphology. A, Photomicrograph (40× magnification) comparing cell morphology of SMCs cultured alone (SMC) or SMCs co-cultured with endothelial cells (CC) for 48 hours (see Materials and Methods). B, Two-dimensional cell area as measured by planimetry. Results are mean ± SEM. *P < .05 vs SMC alone. Journal of Vascular Surgery 2005 41, 509-516DOI: (10.1016/j.jvs.2004.12.024) Copyright © 2005 The Society for Vascular Surgery Terms and Conditions
Fig 2 Co-culture induces biochemical markers of smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation and activates SMC Akt. A, SMCs were cultured alone or co-cultured opposite endothelial cells (CC) for 48 hours and were analyzed by Western blotting with antibodies recognizing smooth muscle 2-myosin heavy chain (SM2-MHC), phospho-serine 473 (P-Ser473) Akt, total Akt, and phospho-serine 9 glycogen synthase kinase 3β (P-GSK-3β). B, Cells were cultured as above in A and SMCs analyzed by Western blotting with antibodies recognizing smoothelin, P-Ser473 Akt, total Akt, P-Ser9 GSK-3β, p27kip, and total extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) (loading control). C, Corresponding densitometry data for SM2 (*P < 0.05), P-Ser473 Akt (** P < .008), and total Akt from three replicate experiments. Results are mean ± SEM. Journal of Vascular Surgery 2005 41, 509-516DOI: (10.1016/j.jvs.2004.12.024) Copyright © 2005 The Society for Vascular Surgery Terms and Conditions
Fig 3 Co-culture-conditioned media induces smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation and activates SMC Akt. A, Conditioned media from SMC and endothelial cell 24-hour co-culture was added at time 0 to SMC cultured alone. SMCs were analyzed at the subsequent time points indicated by Western blotting as in Fig 2. (P-Ser473, phospho-serine 473) B, SMCs were treated with conditioned media as in A and analyzed at the subsequent time points indicated by Western blotting for the indicated antibodies (ERK1/2 [extracellular signal-regulated kinase] loading control) SM2-MHC, smooth muscle 2-myosin heavy chain). Journal of Vascular Surgery 2005 41, 509-516DOI: (10.1016/j.jvs.2004.12.024) Copyright © 2005 The Society for Vascular Surgery Terms and Conditions
Fig 4 Overexpression of constitutively active Akt induces smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation. SMC were cultured alone and infected with adenovirus encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP) only (Ctrl), constitutively active hemagglutinin (HA)-tagged myristoylated Akt (MyrAkt), or were uninfected (Uninf) overnight. Cells were washed, re-fed, and assayed by Western blotting 24 hours later with antibodies recognizing smooth muscle 2-myosin heavy chain (SM2-MHC), the HA-epitope tag (HA-myrAkt), phospho-serine 9 glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β), and total extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) (loading control). Journal of Vascular Surgery 2005 41, 509-516DOI: (10.1016/j.jvs.2004.12.024) Copyright © 2005 The Society for Vascular Surgery Terms and Conditions
Fig 5 Wortmannin prevents co-culture-induced differentiation. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) were cultured alone or co-cultured opposite endothelial cells for 48 hours, and then 100 nM wortmannin or vehicle control was added to the SMCs for the 48-hour duration. A, SMC area as determined by planimetry. Black bar, SMC cultured alone with vehicle; black striped bar, SMC in co-culture with vehicle (P < 0.05 relative to all others); gray bar, SMC cultured alone with wortmannin; gray striped bar, SMC in co-culture with wortmannin. Data are mean ± SEM. B, SMC were treated as above in A and analyzed by Western blotting as in Fig 2 (SM2-MHC, smooth muscle 2-myosin heavy chain). Journal of Vascular Surgery 2005 41, 509-516DOI: (10.1016/j.jvs.2004.12.024) Copyright © 2005 The Society for Vascular Surgery Terms and Conditions
Fig 6 Dominant-negative Akt (dnAkt) inhibits co-culture-induced differentiation. Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) were infected with dnAkt or control (green fluorescent protein [GFP]) adenoviruses, or uninfected overnight, washed, trypsinized, and replated opposite confluent endothelial cells in co-culture (CC) for 48 hours. Two-dimensional cell area as measured by planimetry is shown. Solid bars, SMC alone; stippled bars, SMC in co-culture. Data are mean ± SEM. *P < .05 for uninfected-CC or control virus-CC vs all other groups. Journal of Vascular Surgery 2005 41, 509-516DOI: (10.1016/j.jvs.2004.12.024) Copyright © 2005 The Society for Vascular Surgery Terms and Conditions