Abstract

Introduction

Materials & Methods

Results

Discussion & Conclusion

References

Discussion
Board

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) Ca2+ plays a key role in signal transduction in blood vessels. Here, we compare the expression of mRNA for the ER Ca2+ pump genes SERCA2 and SERCA3 in endothelium and smooth muscle dissected from fresh coronary artery, coronary vein, aorta and vena cava of pig. We first cloned and sequenced a small fragment of SRERCA3 cDNA from pig coronary artery endothelium. This segment had 97, 92 and 90% identity with SERCA3 from rat, mouse and human, respectively. We then devised an RT-PCR protocol to determine SERCA2 and SERCA3 expression. Endothelium from coronary artery, coronary vein and aorta expressed both SERCA2 and SRCA3 mRNA but the endothelium from vena cava expressed only SERCA2. Cells cultured from endothelium of coronary artery also expressed both SERCA2 and SERCA3. Freshly isolated smooth muscle from all the arteries and veins and smooth muscle cells cultured from coronary artery all expressed only SERCA2. We present several hypotheses for the significance of differences in the SERCA3 expression of different vascular beds.

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Poster Number PAkhan0156
Keywords: coronary artery, coronary vein, SERCA, vena cava, ATPase