No abstract

Infection with Trichinella spiralis in the rat causes altered intestinal motility and jejunal smooth muscle contractility by day 6 postinoculation. The purpose of this study was to determine structural and molecular changes in the smooth muscle that could account for the functional changes that have been reported. By day 6 postinoculation, there was an increase in thickness of both muscle layers of the jejunum. This increase in mass was accompanied by an increase in total protein content of the seromuscular tissues. When specific proteins were analyzed, increases in actin and myosin heavy chain contents were found. On the other hand, there was no increase in collagen content. Alterations in gene expression at the pretranslational level were determined by monitoring total RNA and the proportion of mRNA that codes for alpha-smooth muscle actin. There was an increase in both parameters in longitudinal muscle from the jejunum of infected animals. The increase appeared to be site selective because there were no increases in either parameter in longitudinal muscle of the distal intestine. These results indicate that pretranslational upregulation of gene expression for actin isoforms occurs in smooth muscle of the proximal but not distal intestine during the early enteric phase of infection with T. spiralis. Thus the altered smooth muscle contractility that has been reported in experimental trichinosis may be related in part to an increased expression of smooth muscle protein.

No abstract

SUMMARY. Saphenous veins are used extensively to replace stenotic coronary arteries. However, the contractile and biochemical adaptations of grafted veins are unknown. The three purposes of this work were to characterize the contractile properties of grafted veins, to determine whether altered contractile characteristics were associated with quantitative changes in actin, myosin and collagen, and to determine which changes were associated with the surgical procedure and which with placement in the arterial circulation. Canine saphenous veins were removed and returned to their original location (venous autograft), while others were used to replace a segment of femoral artery (arterial graft). The grafts were removed 1, 4, and 8 weeks later and compared with the contralateral saphenous vein. Both graft types exhibited an increase in sensitivity to norepinephrine but not to potassium chloride. The venous autograft exhibited a reversible reduction in myosin content and in maximum contractile response (force/cross-sectional area) to potassium chloride and norepinephrine. In contrast, the arterial graft exhibited increased wall thickness and content of all measured proteins and decreased maximum contractile response. The latter occurred even though there was an increase in the net production of actin and myosin. Expressing the maximum contractile response in terms of the myosin content did not normalize the contractile response. These results suggest that, except for the elevated sensitivity to norepinephrine, the vein is capable of recovering from the effects of surgery within 8 weeks; however, placement of the vein in the arterial circulation delays this recovery and initiates a hypertrophic response that includes an attenuation of contractile function. (Circ Res 55: 102-109, 1984)

Previous observations indicate that bypass of 70% of the small bowel of rats induces increases in the seromuscular mass of both the in-continuity and the bypassed segment. The purpose of this study was to quantify the amount of actomyosin and collagen in the muscle layer and to determine the number of cells per cross-sectional area of the circular muscle layer at various locations of the small intestine after jejunoileal bypass. The amount of actomyosin relative to total tissue protein remained the same in the hypertrophied tissues compared with controls, and the actin-to-myosin ratios were similar. The collagen content per wet weight of the tissue from the sham- and bypass-operated animals tended to be less than in tissue from unoperated controls and was significantly less at the distal in-continuity location. The number of cells per cross-sectional area was decreased in tissues from all locations of the bypassed animals. These findings support the hypothesis that the increase in seromuscular mass after intestinal bypass is due to an increase in functioning smooth muscle tissue and that at least part of the increase is due to cell hypertrophy.