ArticlePloS one2013
The focal adhesion: a regulated component of aortic stiffness.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers.
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Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 66 citations in OpenAlex.
- Dystrophin and dystrophin association protein expression decreases with age in vascular smooth muscle.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Pain Unraveled: Kinesio Taping as a Novel Approach to Myofascial Pain Management.Current pain and headache reports · 2026Review
- Mechanical signaling regulates vascular smooth muscle cell adaptation in aging.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Vascular Inflammation and Smooth Muscle Contractility: The Role of Nox1-Derived Superoxide and LRRC8 Anion Channels.Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979) · 2024Review
- Review
- Mouse aortic biomechanics are affected by short-term defective autophagy in vascular smooth muscle cells.The journal of physiological sciences : JPS · 2022Article
- Age-Associated Dysregulation of Integrin Function in Vascular Smooth Muscle.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Article
- Mechanical programming of arterial smooth muscle cells in health and ageing.Biophysical reviews · 2021Review
- Association of Aortic Stiffness With Biomarkers of Neuroinflammation, Synaptic Dysfunction, and Neurodegeneration.Neurology · 2021Article
- Impact of Cardiovascular Hemodynamics on Cognitive Aging.Arteriosclerosis, thrombosis, and vascular biology · 2021Review
- Non-muscle myosin II regulates aortic stiffness through effects on specific focal adhesion proteins and the non-muscle cortical cytoskeleton.Journal of cellular and molecular medicine · 2021Article
- Bidirectional Modulation of Neuronal Cells Electrical and Mechanical Properties Through Pristine and Functionalized Graphene Substrates.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2021Article
- Aortic Stiffness Hysteresis in Isolated Mouse Aortic Segments Is Intensified by Contractile Stimuli, Attenuated by Age, and Reversed by Elastin Degradation.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- Vascular aging, the vascular cytoskeleton and aortic stiffness.Exploration of medicine · 2021Article
- Environmentally controlled magnetic nano-tweezer for living cells and extracellular matrices.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Sex differences in mechanisms of arterial stiffness.British journal of pharmacology · 2019Review
- Increased mitochondrial NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4) expression in aging is a causative factor in aortic stiffening.Redox biology · 2019Article
- Vascular smooth muscle cell contraction and relaxation in the isolated aorta: a critical regulator of large artery compliance.Physiological reports · 2019Article
- Reversal of Aging-Induced Increases in Aortic Stiffness by Targeting Cytoskeletal Protein-Protein Interfaces.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2018Article
- A role for focal adhesion kinase in facilitating the contractile responses of murine gastric fundus smooth muscles.The Journal of physiology · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Increased aortic stiffness is an acknowledged predictor and cause of cardiovascular disease. The sources and mechanisms of vascular stiffness are not well understood, although the extracellular matrix (ECM) has been assumed to be a major component. We tested here the hypothesis that the focal adhesions (FAs) connecting the cortical cytoskeleton of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to the matrix in the aortic wall are a component of aortic stiffness and that this component is dynamically regulated. First, we examined a model system in which magnetic tweezers could be used to monitor cellular cortical stiffness, serum-starved A7r5 aortic smooth muscle cells. Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), an activator of myosin that increases cell contractility, increased cortical stiffness. A small molecule inhibitor of Src-dependent FA recycling, PP2, was found to significantly inhibit LPA-induced increases in cortical stiffness, as well as tension-induced increases in FA size. To directly test the applicability of these results to force and stiffness development at the level of vascular tissue, we monitored mouse aorta ring stiffness with small sinusoidal length oscillations during agonist-induced contraction. The alpha-agonist phenylephrine, which also increases myosin activation and contractility, increased tissue stress and stiffness in a PP2- and FAK inhibitor 14-attenuated manner. Subsequent phosphotyrosine screening and follow-up with phosphosite-specific antibodies confirmed that the effects of PP2 and FAK inhibitor 14 in vascular tissue involve FA proteins, including FAK, CAS, and paxillin. Thus, in the present study we identify, for the first time, the FA of the VSMC, in particular the FAK-Src signaling complex, as a significant subcellular regulator of aortic stiffness and stress.
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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.