Modulators of myosin light chain kinase activity affect both [Ca+2] and contraction in single smooth muscle cells.
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Animals↗
Biomedical subjects
F S Fay
Publications and source records attributed to F S Fay.
Distribution of intracellular free calcium in quiescent BALB/c 3T3 cells stimulated by platelet-derived growth factor.
A digital imaging microscope and fluorescent Ca(2+)-sensitive probe (Fura 2) were used to study the spatial location and time course of increases in free intracellular calcium (Cai) induced by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). Microinjection of Fura 2 acid avoided problems of incomplete deesterification of Fura 2-acetoxymethyl ester (Fura 2/AM) and dye localization in cellular organelles. PDGF stimulated a rapid increase in Cai (up to 8-fold increase) in both the nucleus and the cytoplasm in approximately half of the quiescent BALB/c 3T3 cells. Cai changes were both spatially and temporally heterogeneous, the latter including both transient (1-2 min) and prolonged increases (greater than 5 min) in the same cell. PDGF stimulated mitogenesis and Cai increases in approximately the same percentage of cells. Moreover, large intracellular concentrations of a Ca2+ buffer (Quin 2) inhibited both Cai increases and mitogenesis stimulated by PDGF. Thus, Ca2+ increases in the nuclear and/or cytosolic compartments appear to be required for the stimulation of mitogenesis by polypeptide growth factors such as PDGF.
Aminoquinolines↗
Regulation of calcium concentration in voltage-clamped smooth muscle cells.
The regulation of intracellular calcium concentration in single smooth muscle cells was investigated by simultaneously monitoring electrical events at the surface membrane and calcium concentration in the cytosol. Cytosolic calcium concentration rose rapidly during an action potential or during a voltage-clamp pulse that elicited calcium current; a train of voltage-clamp pulses caused further increases in the calcium concentration up to a limit of approximately 1 microM. The decline of the calcium concentration back to resting levels occurred at rates that varied with the calcium concentration in an apparently saturable manner. Moreover, the rate of decline at any given calcium concentration was enhanced after a higher, more prolonged increase of calcium. The process responsible for this enhancement persisted for many seconds after the calcium concentration returned to resting levels. Thus, the magnitude and duration of a calcium transient appear to regulate the subsequent calcium removal.
Action Potentials↗
Effects of modulators of myosin light-chain kinase activity in single smooth muscle cells.
Phosphorylation of myosin light chains by a calmodulin-myosin light-chain kinase (MLCK) pathway is considered to be responsible for coupling increased calcium concentration with contraction in smooth muscle. This simple view has, however, recently been questioned. To test this hypothesis directly, we microinjected individual smooth muscle cells with modulators of the MLCK pathway while measuring contraction and calcium-ion concentration. Injection of a constitutively active proteolyzed form of MLCK causes contraction but no change in calcium concentration. By contrast, injection of peptide inhibitors of MLCK blocks contraction in response to K+ depolarization, despite the fact that the change in calcium concentration in response to stimulation was enhanced over controls. These results provide a direct demonstration at the level of a single cell that activation of the calmodulin-MLCK pathway is both necessary and sufficient to trigger contraction of smooth muscle.
Animals↗
Myosin filaments isolated from skinned amphibian smooth muscle cells are side-polar.
The structure of myosin filaments isolated from skinned toad stomach smooth muscle cells has been examined by electron microscopy as a step toward identifying the in vivo structure. When negatively stained following exposure to relaxing conditions, the filaments exhibited a continuous 14-nm axial repeat of crossbridge projections with no central bare zone. The filaments thus differed from the bipolar filaments found in striated muscle and displayed instead features resembling side-polar and mixed-polarity filament models. By rotation of isolated filaments around their longitudinal axes it was found that cross bridges occurred only along two sides of the filament, an arrangement consistent with the side-polar but not the mixed-polarity model. The polarity is thus similar to that proposed for ribbons (Small & Squire, J. molec. Biol. 67, (1972) 17-149) and for synthetic smooth muscle myosin filaments (Craig and Megerman, J. Cell Biol. 75, (1977) 990-996); their appearance in cross-section, however, shows that these structures are filaments (i.e. with two axes of similar dimensions) and not broad ribbons. As the filaments were derived directly from skinned cells which contracted and relaxed in response to physiological levels of MgATP and Ca2+ at rates comparable to those of native, isolated cells, this unusual arrangement of cross bridges appears to be an effective, functional form of myosin in the contractile apparatus. Side-polar filaments therefore merit consideration as plausible candidates for the native organization of myosin in vertebrate smooth muscle cells.
Actin Cytoskeleton↗
Periodic organization of the contractile apparatus in smooth muscle revealed by the motion of dense bodies in single cells.
To study the organization of the contractile apparatus in smooth muscle and its behavior during shortening, the movement of dense bodies in contracting saponin skinned, isolated cells was analyzed from digital images collected at fixed time intervals. These cells were optically lucent so that punctate structures, identified immunocytochemically as dense bodies, were visible in them with the phase contrast microscope. Methods were adapted and developed to track the bodies and to study their relative motion. Analysis of their tracks or trajectories indicated that the bodies did not move passively as cells shortened and that nearby bodies often had similar patterns of motion. Analysis of the relative motion of the bodies indicated that some bodies were structurally linked to one another or constrained so that the distance between them remained relatively constant during contraction. Such bodies tended to fall into laterally oriented, semirigid groups found at approximately 6-microns intervals along the cell axis. Other dense bodies moved rapidly toward one another axially during contraction. Such bodies were often members of separate semirigid groups. This suggests that the semirigid groups of dense bodies in smooth muscle cells may provide a framework for the attachment of the contractile structures to the cytoskeleton and the cell surface and indicates that smooth muscle may be more well-ordered than previously thought. The methods described here for the analysis of the motion of intracellular structures should be directly applicable to the study of motion in other cell types.
Actinin↗
Calcium regulation of prolactin gene expression: opposing effects of extracellular CaCl2 and Ca2+ ionophores.
Previous studies have demonstrated that the high basal level of transcription of the rat PRL gene in pituitary tumor GH3 cells is dependent on [CA2+]e. In the present study, we have extended these findings by examining the effects of the Ca2+ ionophores, A23187 and ionomycin, on [Ca2+]i, and on PRL mRNA levels and glucose-regulated protein (GRP) mRNA levels in GH3 cells cultured in a low Ca2+, serum-free medium (SFM). Using digital imaging microscopy of individual Fura 2-loaded GH3 cells in SFM plus 0.4 mM CaCl2, extranuclear and nuclear [Ca2+] were both about 70 nM. Addition of 600 nM ionomycin increased these levels by 10-fold within minutes, and by about 45-fold after 120 min. As previously published, addition of 0.4 mM CaCl2 to GH3 cells cultured in SFM significantly increased PRL mRNA, and had little or no effect on GRP78 and GRP94 mRNA after 16 h. Addition of 0.4 mM CaCl2 plus 100 nM A23187 significantly increased GRP78 and GRP94 mRNA. Surprisingly, the Ca2+ ionophore significantly inhibited PRL gene expression below that obtained in 0.4 mM CaCl2 without A23187. This same pattern of stimulation of GRP78 gene expression, but inhibition of PRL gene expression, was observed with 125 and 600 nM ionomycin. Both Ca2+ ionophores had no effect on histone 3 mRNA, and A23187 depressed PRL gene expression at a concentration (50 nM) that did not affect protein synthesis. Although A23187 reproducibly lowered PRL mRNA levels, it slightly inhibited its degradation in cells in which RNA synthesis was blocked by actinomycin D.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Animals↗
Three-dimensional molecular distribution in single cells analysed using the digital imaging microscope.
Cellular changes in molecular distribution are believed to underly a wide range of cell functions. In order to investigate changes in molecular distribution in single cells utilizing fluorescent probes we have developed a digital imaging microscope. The system, consisting of both hardware and software, automatically acquires 3-D data sets consisting of optical sections and then processes such data to facilitate the analysis of molecular distribution in single cells. The first major step in processing reverses distortion introduced principally by the optics of the fluorescent microscope. Various procedures for accomplishing this task are compared and a method based on regularization theory is shown to give superior results for several different 3-D images. Following this step features of interest are automatically extracted from 3-D images utilizing an artificial 3-D visual system. This artificial visual system utilize a system of spatial filters to identify regional characteristics of images, the information obtained from these filters being used to identify and characterize clusters of molecules within the image. This information is then utilized to construct a 3-D graphical model of molecular distribution in single cells. Such models are displayed in 3-D and may further analysed utilizing interactive 3-D computer graphics. These methods are illustrated by results obtained regarding alpha-actinin distribution in single smooth muscle cells.
Actinin↗
Role of local [Ca+2] in the control of cell function.
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Animals↗
Relationship between force and Ca2+ concentration in smooth muscle as revealed by measurements on single cells.
The role of Ca2+ in regulating smooth muscle contraction was investigated by measuring isometric force and [Ca2+] simultaneously in individual single smooth-muscle cells. [Ca2+] was measured with fura-2 and a high time-resolution dual-wavelength digital microfluorimeter, and force was measured with an ultrasensitive force transducer attached to a probe around which was tied one end of the cell. Both [Ca2+] and force increase after maximal electrical stimulus, with [Ca2+] increasing considerably before the first detectable increase in force. Force development exhibited maximal sensitivity to [Ca2+] between 150 and 500 nM Ca2+. This Ca2+ sensitivity can account for the fact that many physiological stimuli produce full contraction even though such stimuli only increase Ca2+ to 600-800 nM. When Ca2+ was induced to increase rapidly, the relation between [Ca2+] and force exhibited hysteresis. During the onset of contraction, force at a given [Ca2+] was lower than during the muscle's return to rest, thus suggesting the existence of a slow step(s) linking Ca2+ and force development in smooth muscle. The direction of this hysteresis reversed during contractions in which Ca2+ increased slowly, suggesting that the contractile process becomes desensitized to [Ca2+] with time. These relations between calcium and force in intact single smooth-muscle cells differ in many respects from the relation found previously in chemically permeabilized multicellular preparations of smooth muscle.
Animals↗
Characterization of cross-bridge elasticity and kinetics of cross-bridge cycling during force development in single smooth muscle cells.
Force development in smooth muscle, as in skeletal muscle, is believed to reflect recruitment of force-generating myosin cross-bridges. However, little is known about the events underlying cross-bridge recruitment as the muscle cell approaches peak isometric force and then enters a period of tension maintenance. In the present studies on single smooth muscle cells isolated from the toad (Bufo marinus) stomach muscularis, active muscle stiffness, calculated from the force response to small sinusoidal length changes (0.5% cell length, 250 Hz), was utilized to estimate the relative number of attached cross-bridges. By comparing stiffness during initial force development to stiffness during force redevelopment immediately after a quick release imposed at peak force, we propose that the instantaneous active stiffness of the cell reflects both a linearly elastic cross-bridge element having 1.5 times the compliance of the cross-bridge in frog skeletal muscle and a series elastic component having an exponential length-force relationship. At the onset of force development, the ratio of stiffness to force was 2.5 times greater than at peak isometric force. These data suggest that, upon activation, cross-bridges attach in at least two states (i.e., low-force-producing and high-force-producing) and redistribute to a steady state distribution at peak isometric force. The possibility that the cross-bridge cycling rate was modulated with time was also investigated by analyzing the time course of tension recovery to small, rapid step length changes (0.5% cell length in 2.5 ms) imposed during initial force development, at peak force, and after 15 s of tension maintenance. The rate of tension recovery slowed continuously throughout force development following activation and slowed further as force was maintained. Our results suggest that the kinetics of force production in smooth muscle may involve a redistribution of cross-bridge populations between two attached states and that the average cycling rate of these cross-bridges becomes slower with time during contraction.
Animals↗
Beta-adrenergic actions on membrane electrical properties of dissociated smooth muscle cells.
Studies were carried out to determine the effects of the beta-adrenergic agent, isoproterenol (ISO), on membrane electrical properties in single smooth muscle cells enzymatically dispersed from toad stomach. In cells bathed in buffer of physiological composition, the average resting potential was -56.4 +/- 1.4 mV (mean +/- SE, n = 35). The dominant effect of exposure to ISO was hyperpolarization. The hyperpolarization was apparent in all cells studied and averaged 11.6 +/- 1.2 mV (n = 27). In the majority of the cells, hyperpolarization was accompanied by a decreased input resistance (Rin). Often the change in resistance appeared to lag behind the change in membrane potential. The lack of coincident changes in membrane potential and resistance may reflect a superposition of the outward rectification properties of the membrane on beta-adrenergic-induced increases in ionic conductance. In about half of the cells, an initial small depolarization (3.1 +/- 0.3 mV, n = 14) was accompanied by a small but distinct increase in Rin (12 +/- 2.5%). When membrane potential was made more negative than the estimated equilibrium potential for K+ (EK) by injection of current, ISO also produced biphasic effects, an initial hyperpolarization which reversed to a sustained depolarization to a value (-90 mV) near the estimated EK. The hyperpolarization by ISO could be diminished in a time-dependent manner by previous exposure to ouabain. The inhibition by ouabain, however, appeared to be a fortuitous result of glycoside-induced positive shifts in EK. These observations indicate that the dominant electrophysiological effect of beta-adrenergic stimuli is to hyperpolarize the cell membrane.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Adrenergic beta-Agonists↗
A Ca2+-insensitive form of fura-2 associated with polymorphonuclear leukocytes. Assessment and accurate Ca2+ measurement.
The new, fluorescent Ca2+ indicator, fura-2, promises to expand our understanding of the role of subcellular changes in Ca2+ underlying cell function. During an investigation of the role of Ca2+ in the polarization response of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes to formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine, we found that fura-2 trapped by cells incubated with the acetoxy-methyl ester of fura-2, F2-AM, yielded measurements of Ca2+ that were depressed at rest and during the response to formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine. Fura-2, trapped by the cells, exhibited a spectrum in the presence of saturating Ca2+ that differed from that of fura-2 free acid. We have shown that the cellular fluorescence can be spectrally decomposed into two components: one with Ca2+ sensitivity identical to fully deesterified fura-2, and another which is Ca2+-insensitive. The Ca2+-insensitive component appears to be more fluorescent than F2-AM as well as spectrally different from F2-AM. The insensitive form probably results from incomplete deesterification of F2-AM by the cells. In order to accurately measure Ca2+ in polymorphonuclear leukocytes, it is imperative to check for the presence of Ca2+-insensitive fluorescence. The contribution of Ca2+-insensitive fura-2 fluorescence can be assessed routinely from spectral data obtained by calibration of intracellular fura-2 with known [Ca2+] using ionomycin. The end-of-experiment calibration step not only ensures accurate [Ca2+] measurements in polymorphonuclear leukocytes and in other cell types that display Ca2+-insensitive, contaminating fluorescence but also yields the spectral characteristics of the insensitive species.
Benzofurans↗
Regional changes in calcium underlying contraction of single smooth muscle cells.
The role of calcium in regulating the contractile state of smooth muscle has been investigated by measuring calcium and contraction in single smooth muscle cells with the calcium-sensitive dye fura-2 and the digital imaging microscope. The concentration of free calcium in the cytoplasm increased after stimulation of the cells by depolarization with high potassium or by application of carbachol. Changes in calcium always preceded contraction. The increase in calcium induced by these stimuli was limited to less than 1 microM. Calcium within the nucleus was also subject to a limitation of its rise during contraction. Intranuclear calcium rose from 200 nM at rest to no more than 300 nM while cytoplasmic calcium rose to over 700 nM. These apparent ceilings for both cytoplasmic and intranuclear calcium may result either from negative feedback of calcium on cytoplasmic and nuclear calcium channel gating mechanisms, respectively, or from the presence of calcium pumps that are strongly activated at the calcium ceilings.
Animals↗
Physiological and structural properties of saponin-skinned single smooth muscle cells.
The study of the fundamental events underlying the generation and regulation of force in smooth muscle would be greatly facilitated if the permeability of the cell membrane were increased so that the intracellular environment of the contractile apparatus could be manipulated experimentally. To initiate such an analysis, we developed a saponin permeabilization procedure that was used to "skin" isolated smooth muscle cells from the stomach of the toad, Bufo marinus. Suspensions of single cells isolated enzymatically were resuspended in high-K+ rigor solution (0 ATP, 5 mM EGTA) and exposed for 5 min to 25 micrograms/ml saponin. Virtually all the cells in a suspension were made permeable by this procedure and shortened to less than one-third their initial length when ATP and Ca++ were added; they re-extended when free Ca++ was removed. Analysis of the protein content of the skinned cells revealed that, although their total protein was reduced by approximately 30%, they retained most of their myosin and actin. Skinning was accompanied by a rearrangement of actin and myosin filaments within the cells such that a fine fibrillar structure became visible under the light microscope and a tight clustering of acting filaments around myosin filaments was revealed by the electron microscope. Face-on views of saponin-treated cell membranes revealed the presence of 70-80-A-wide pits or holes. The shortening rate of skinned cells was sensitive to [Ca++] between pCa 7 and pCa 5 and was half-maximal at approximately pCa 6.2. Shortening was also dependent on [ATP] but could be increased at low [ATP] by pretreatment with adenosine-5'-O-(3-thiotriphosphate) (ATP gamma S), which suggests that myosin phosphorylation was more sensitive to low substrate concentrations than was cross-bridge cycling. To determine whether a significant limitation to free diffusion existed in the skinned cells, a computer model of the cell and the unstirred layer surrounding it was developed. Simulations revealed that the membrane, even in skinned cells, could, for short time intervals, significantly inhibit the movement of substances into and out of cells.
Adenosine Triphosphate↗
Photobleaching of fura-2 and its effect on determination of calcium concentrations.
This study was performed to determine the effect of photobleaching on the spectral properties of the calcium-sensitive fluorescent dye fura-2. Fura-2, whether in cells or in calibrating solutions, was found to be bleached when exposed to excitation light. In contrast to the widely held belief, photobleaching altered the spectral properties of the dye. Decomposition of the excitation spectra of partially bleached fura-2 solutions revealed an intermediate that is still fluorescent and is not sensitive to calcium over the same range as fura-2, but which can bind calcium in the millimolar range. The presence of this intermediate violates one of the assumptions on which the ratio method of calibration is based; that is, that the only fluorescent species present are the calcium-bound and the free anion forms of fura-2. Thus, if photobleaching occurs, the ratio method will not give accurate calcium concentration values. We calculate that as little as an 8% loss of total fluorescence intensity is sufficient to produce a large error. Photobleaching of fura-2-loaded cells and fura-2 containing calibrating solutions can be minimized by reducing the oxygen concentration and by reducing the excitation light intensity. Strategies are presented to help maintain a high signal-to-noise ratio in fura-2 fluorescence detection systems, despite a lower excitation intensity so that photobleaching, and the resulting inaccuracies in calculated [Ca2+], can be largely avoided.
Animals↗
Molecular structure and organization of filaments in single, skinned smooth muscle cells.
The contractile elements of single, skinned amphibian smooth muscle cells were resolved as fibrils containing F-actin and side-polar myosin filaments and adjacent cytoplasmic dense bodies, containing alpha-actinin and actin. The fibrils were found to be linked axially through actin filaments to the dense bodies, by electron microscopy. The arrangement of these two structures provides the essential features of a sarcomere to the contractile elements. The effect of contraction upon the movement of the dense bodies was followed dynamically by optical microscopy as a method of analyzing the organization of the contractile apparatus and resolving contractile units. Averaged over long time periods (30 to 50 seconds), the axial movements of dense bodies was uniform. The dense bodies were not simply displaced passively during contraction because the extent of radial movements averaged over the same (long) time periods were less than would be expected for the observed increases in cell diameter. Measured over short time intervals (3 to 6 seconds), the axial movement of some closely spaced dense bodies was not uniform: individual and groups of bodies moved significantly faster and slower than the mean rate of axial translocation. These shifts in coordinated and independent movements might reveal separate anisometric contractile units, or they could represent a random temporal pattern of localized activation and deactivation of small contractile elements.
Animals↗
Development and application of a three-dimensional artificial visual system.
A three-dimensional artificial visual system has been developed to aid in the analysis of 3-D fluorescence images of smooth muscle cells. The system consists of three sets of 3-D spatial filters that decompose the image to enable a simple recombination algorithm to locate the discrete bodies of protein concentration in a cell, classify the concentration bodies as globular or oval, and determine the 3-D orientation of the oval bodies. A graphic model of the protein concentration is created from the data provided by the artificial visual system. Patterns of organization in the distribution of the protein bodies are investigated using an interactive graphics system.
Animals↗