Comparison of the cellular protein composition of aortic smooth muscle cellsin vivo andin vitro by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis

Vascular smooth muscle cells are of major interest for the evaluation of atherosclerotic processes. By the use of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and subsequent silver staining we investigated the protein expression of smooth muscle cells in the native thoracic aorta, immediately after enzymatic disaggregation, in subconfluent proliferating and in postconfluent nonproliferating primary cell cultures. Compared to the native thoracic aorta the protein composition of smooth muscle cells in cell culture is changed dramatically. Furthermore, significant differences in protein expression between proliferating and nonproliferating smooth muscle cells in cell culture were found.