Browsing by Subject "Smooth muscle actin"

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    Expression of smoothelin and smooth muscle actin in the skin
    (Editores F. Hernandez y Juan F. Madrid. Murcia, Universidad de Murcia, Departamento de Biologia Celular e Histologia, 2011) Aneiros Fernández, José; Husein-ElAhmed, Husein; Arias-Santiago, Salvador; Campos, Antonio; Carriel, Víctor; Sánchez-Montesinos, Indalecio; Garcia del Moral, Raimundo; Sánchez, Guillermo; O’Valle, Francisco; Aneiros, J.
    Introduction: Smoothelin is a cytoskeletal protein of differentiated smooth muscle cells with contractile capacity, distinguishing it from other smooth muscle proteins, such as smooth muscle actin (SMA). Objective: To evaluate the expression of smoothelin and SMA in the skin in order to establish specific localizations of smoothelin in smooth muscle cells with high contractile capacity and in the epithelial component of cutaneous adnexal structures. Methods: Immunohistochemical analysis (smoothelin and SMA) was performed in 18 patients with normal skin. Results: SMA was expressed by the vascular structures of superficial, deep, intermediate and adventitial plexuses, whereas smoothelin was specifically expressed in the cytoplasm of smooth muscle cells of the deepest vascular plexus and in no other plexus of the dermis. The hair erector muscle showed intense expression of smoothelin and SMA. Cells with nuclear expression of smoothelin and cytoplasmic expression of SMA were observed in the outer root sheath of the inferior portion of the hair follicles and intense cytoplasmic expression in cells of the dermal sheath to SMA. Conclusions: We report the first study of smoothelin expression in normal skin, which differentiates the superficial vascular plexus from the deep. The deep plexus comprises vessels with high contractile capacity, which is important for understanding dermal hemodynamics in normal skin and pathological processes. We suggest that the function of smoothelin in the outer root sheath may be to enhance the function of SMA, which has been related to mechanical stress.
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    Morphological rearrangement of the cortical region, in aging ovaries
    (Universidad de Murcia. Departamento de Biología Celular e Histología, 2019) Díaz Hernández, Verónica; Caldelas, Ivette; Montaño, Luis M.; Merchant Larios, Horacio
    The ovary is a structurally dynamic organ that alters with age. Modifications in the paracrine status influence the capacity of aging oocytes to develop normal embryos. Despite the importance of understanding the cellular and molecular mechanism involved in the process of ovarian aging, histological changes remain poorly understood. Correlating the process of folliculogenesis and somatic cell function during ovarian aging is essential to explain the reproductive decline of aged mammalian species, including humans. Here, we performed a morphological and immunohistological study on the ovaries of chinchilla rabbits that varied in age from one to 34-months. The spatiotemporal expression of the cholesterol side-chain cleavage cytochrome P450scc (CYP11A) and the smooth muscle actin (SMA) were analyzed. A significant histological rearrangement of immunodetected cells in theca interna, theca externa and the interstitial tissue around the follicles occurred. The expression of CYP11A1 decreased considerably in antral follicles of aging ovaries. Moreover, we found that the secondary interstitial gland developed extensively, and a remarkable rearrangement of the surface epithelium occurred in aging ovaries. In contrast to ovaries during the reproductive period, the immunohistological changes demonstrate that the interstitial gland became the most abundant tissue during the aging of ovaries. Thus, the current study provides new data for understanding the alteration of somatic cell function in elderly ovaries and how this affects their declined fertility.