ArticleMolecular biology of the cell2003
Alpha-smooth muscle actin is crucial for focal adhesion maturation in myofibroblasts.
Article in Molecular biology of the cell, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 148 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
148 citing papers in PubMed, 316 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Actin cytoskeletal dynamics in hepatic myofibroblasts and fibrosis.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2026Review
- Single-cell transcriptomics and multimodal molecular profiling revealed the oncogenesis and tumor microenvironment of cardiac myxoma.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Article
- Review
- Development and characterization of an inducible Tensin1 deficient transgenic murine model.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Stem cell specification and niche formation in developing incisor require actomyosin forces.Stem cells (Dayton, Ohio) · 2026Article
- Can the Spatial Heterogeneity in the Epiligament Explain the Differential Healing Capacities of the ACL and MCL?Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- TNF-α represses fibroblast to myofibroblast transition through the histone methyltransferase Setdb2.JCI insight · 2025Article
- Regulation of corneal stromal cell behavior by modulating curvature using a hydraulically-controlled organ chip array.Nature communications · 2025Article
- 3D Contractile and Remodeling Behaviors of Functionally Normal and Prolapsed Human Mitral Valve Interstitial Cells.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Xenogeneic-free platform for the isolation and scalable expansion of human bladder smooth muscle cells.Biotechnology reports (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2025Article
- The mechanobiology of fibroblast activation in disease.APL bioengineering · 2025Review
- Mossy fiber expression of αSMA in human hippocampus and its relevance to brain evolution and neuronal development.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- RNA-sequencing demonstrates transcriptional differences between human vocal fold fibroblasts and myofibroblasts.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- ATGL regulates renal fibrosis by reprogramming lipid metabolism during the transition from AKI to CKD.Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy · 2025Article
- Fibrotic extracellular matrix impacts cardiomyocyte phenotype and function in an iPSC-derived isogenic model of cardiac fibrosis.Translational research : the journal of laboratory and clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Targeting the VEGFR2 signaling pathway for angiogenesis and fibrosis regulation in neovascular age-related macular degeneration.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Evaluation of the Antifibrotic Effects of Drugs Commonly Used in Inflammatory Intestinal Diseases on In Vitro Intestinal Cellular Models.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Non-Coding Ribonucleic Acids as Diagnostic and Therapeutic Targets in Cardiac Fibrosis.Current heart failure reports · 2024Review
- Villus myofibroblasts are developmental and adult progenitors of mammalian gut lymphatic musculature.Developmental cell · 2024Article
88 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cultured myofibroblasts are characterized by stress fibers, containing alpha-smooth muscle actin (alpha-SMA) and by supermature focal adhesions (FAs), which are larger than FAs of alpha-SMA-negative fibroblasts. We have investigated the role of alpha-SMA for myofibroblast adhesion and FA maturation. Inverted centrifugation reveals two phases of initial myofibroblast attachment: during the first 2 h of plating microfilament bundles contain essentially cytoplasmic actin and myofibroblast adhesion is similar to that of alpha-SMA-negative fibroblasts. Then, myofibroblasts incorporate alpha-SMA in stress fibers, develop mature FAs and their adhesion capacity is significantly increased. When alpha-SMA expression is induced in 5 d culture by TGFbeta or low serum levels, fibroblast adhesion is further increased correlating with a "supermaturation" of FAs. Treatment of myofibroblasts with alpha-SMA fusion peptide (SMA-FP), which inhibits alpha-SMA-mediated contractile activity, reduces their adhesion to the level of alpha-SMA negative fibroblasts. With the use of flexible micropatterned substrates and EGFP-constructs we show that SMA-FP application leads to a decrease of myofibroblast contraction, shortly followed by disassembly of paxillin- and beta3 integrin-containing FAs; alpha5 integrin distribution is not affected. FRAP of beta3 integrin-EGFP demonstrates an increase of FA protein turnover following SMA-FP treatment. We conclude that the formation and stability of supermature FAs depends on a high alpha-SMA-mediated contractile activity of myofibroblast stress fibers.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.