Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
11
pubmed:dateCreated
1995-6-30
pubmed:abstractText
The controversial finding that the thick filaments of smooth muscle can be evanescent leads to the hypothesis that the large functional range of this muscle is accommodated by plastic rearrangements that place more thick filaments in series at longer lengths. Our preliminary finding that the shortening velocity and compliance of dog tracheal muscle were strongly dependent on adapted muscle length, while force was much less length dependent, supports this hypothesis (V.R. Pratusevich, C.Y. Seow, and L.E. Ford. Biophys. J. 66: A139, 1994). The hypothesis leads to two further corollaries. The first is that the lengthening of the thick filaments that must accompany their reformation will cause a series to parallel transition: fewer long filaments span the muscle length, but the longer filaments have more cross bridges acting in parallel. The second is that there is more than one activating mechanism in smooth muscle. It is known that myosin light chain phosphorylation activates the actomyosin ATPase, but this same phosphorylation also causes a structural change that facilitates filament formation. The consideration that the unaggregated, phosphorylated myosin must be prevented from competing with myosin in thick filaments and hydrolyzing ATP suggests that there must be a second mechanism that must allow the thin filaments to interact selectively with filamentous myosin. This need for a second activating mechanism may explain the presence of tropomyosin, calponin, and caldesmon on thin filaments. Although the two corollaries follow from the initial hypothesis, it should be emphasized that the three are not mutually dependent, and that the proof or disproof of any one of them would not prove or disprove the others.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Nov
pubmed:issn
0008-4212
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
72
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1320-4
pubmed:dateRevised
2005-11-16
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1994
pubmed:articleTitle
Plasticity in smooth muscle, a hypothesis.
pubmed:affiliation
Cardiology Section, University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review