Smooth muscle contraction is the fundamental event in gastrointestinal motion. Although many of the biochemical mechanisms underlying the excitation-contraction coupling are not yet defined, it is known that cytosolic Ca2+ is the essential component in the coupling phenomenon. Inflammation of the human intestine causes thickening of the smooth muscle layers which results from the increases in the smooth muscle-specific actins. The increased smooth muscle actins may affect force production and further demonstrate the plasticity of smooth muscle in the inflamed intestine. Studies also show that human intestinal smooth muscle cells respond to IL-1beta and TNF-alpha stimulation by releasing IL-6, which might significantly contribute to the overall systemic inflammatory response. The availability of human intestinal smooth muscle cells in culture will considerably enhance our ability to study the contractile, proliferative and connective tissue responses of the smooth muscle of the human gastrointestinal tract.HISMC from AcceGen Research Laboratories are isolated from human intestine. HISMC are cryopreserved at passage one culture and delivered frozen. Each vial contains >5×10^5 cells in 1 ml volume. HISMC are characterized by immunofluorescent method with antibodies to Α-smooth muscle actin and desmin. HISMC are negative for HIV-1, HBV, HCV, mycoplasma, bacteria, yeast and fungi. HISMC are guaranteed to further expand for 15 population doublings in the condition provided by AcceGen Research Laboratories.

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