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DOI: 10.1369/jhc.4A6504.2005
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Journal of Histochemistry and Cytochemistry
Volume 53 (7): 875-883, 2005
Copyright ©The Histochemical Society, Inc.

Smooth Muscle-specific {alpha} Tropomyosin Is a Marker of Fully Differentiated Smooth Muscle in Lung

Bernadette Vrhovski, Karen McKay, Galina Schevzov, Peter W. Gunning and Ron P. Weinberger

Oncology Research Unit (BV,GS,PWG,RPW) and Department of Respiratory Medicine (KM), The Children's Hospital at Westmead, NSW, Australia, and Discipline of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia (KM,GS,PWG,RPW)

Correspondence to: Prof. Peter Gunning, The Children's Hospital at Westmead, Locked Bag 4001, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia. E-mail: peterg3{at}chw.edu.au

Tropomyosin (Tm) is one of the major components of smooth muscle. Currently it is impossible to easily distinguish the two major smooth muscle (sm) forms of Tm at a protein level by immunohistochemistry due to lack of specific antibodies. {alpha}-sm Tm contains a unique 2a exon not found in any other Tm. We have produced a polyclonal antibody to this exon that specifically detects {alpha}-sm Tm. We demonstrate here the utility of this antibody for the study of smooth muscle. The tissue distribution of {alpha}-sm Tm was shown to be highly specific to smooth muscle. {alpha}-sm Tm showed an identical profile and tissue colocalization with {alpha}-sm actin both by Western blotting and immunohistochemistry. Using lung as a model organ system, we examined the developmental appearance of {alpha}-sm Tm in comparison to {alpha}-sm actin in both the mouse and human. {alpha}-sm Tm is a late-onset protein, appearing much later than actin in both species. There were some differences in onset of appearance in vascular and airway smooth muscle with airway appearing earlier. {alpha}-sm Tm can therefore be used as a good marker of mature differentiated smooth muscle cells. Along with {alpha}-sm actin and sm-myosin antibodies, {alpha}-sm Tm is a valuable tool for the study of smooth muscle. (J Histochem Cytochem 53:875–883, 2005)

Key Words: actin • antibody • lung • smooth muscle • tropomyosin


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P. Gunning, G. O'neill, and E. Hardeman
Tropomyosin-Based Regulation of the Actin Cytoskeleton in Time and Space
Physiol Rev, January 1, 2008; 88(1): 1 - 35.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]



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