Rat Pulmonary Artery Smooth Muscle Cells

Smooth muscle cells (SMC) are primary contributors to the development of arterial disease. The ability of vascular SMC to switch to a proliferative phenotype is one of the main factors in the development and progression of vascular disease. Pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMC) express VEGF and FGF-2 and are subjected to mechanical forces during pulsatile blood flow. Chronic lung hypoxia causes vascular remodeling with PASMC hyperplasia, and results in pulmonary hypertension. Cultured rat PASMC (RPASMC) play an important role in vascular disease research and can be used to identify new therapeutic targets to treat pulmonary vascular disease.

RPASMC from ScienCell Research Laboratories are isolated from CD® IGS rat pulmonary arteries. RPASMC are cryopreserved at passage one and delivered frozen. Each vial contains >5 x 10⁵ cells in 1 ml volume. RPASMC are characterized by immunofluorescence with antibodies specific to α-smooth muscle actin. RPASMC are negative for mycoplasma, bacteria, yeast and fungi. RPASMC are guaranteed to further expand for 5 population doublings under the conditions provided by ScienCell Research Laboratories.