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(Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology. 2003;23:1008.)
© 2003 American Heart Association, Inc.

Vascular Biology

A Quantitative In Vitro Model of Smooth Muscle Cell Migration Through the Arterial Wall Using the Human Amniotic Membrane

Klaus Kallenbach; Harold A. Fernandez; Graziano Seghezzi; F. Gregory Baumann; Sundeep Patel; Eugene A. Grossi; Aubrey C. Galloway; Paolo Mignatti

From Seymour Cohn Cardiovascular Surgery Research Laboratory; Laboratory for General Surgery Research, Department of Surgery (P.M.); and Department of Cell Biology (P.M.), New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY.

Correspondence to Paolo Mignatti, Department of Cell Biology, New York University School of Medicine, Department of Cell Biology, 550 First Ave, New York, NY 10016. E-mail mignap01{at}med.nyu.edu

Objective— The development of intimal hyperplasia involves smooth muscle cell (SMC) migration into the intima and proliferation. Matrix metalloproteinases and their tissue inhibitors play important roles in this process. In this study, we describe a novel in vitro model for studying SMC migration through the vessel wall.

Methods and Results— Human aortic SMCs (hASMCs) labeled with ¹²⁵I-iododeoxyuridine or unlabeled were grown on the stromal aspect of the human amniotic membrane. Mechanical damage to endothelial cells grown on the basement membrane and addition of growth factors or platelets were characterized for their effect on SMC migration into the stroma both by histological methods and by measuring the radioactivity associated with the membrane after removal of noninvasive SMCs. To assess the reliability of the model, the cells were infected with a recombinant adenovirus encoding the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1). Addition of a platelet-derived growth factor gradient stimulated hASMC infiltration into the stroma. This effect was abolished with TIMP-1-transduced hASMC, confirming that TIMP-1 overexpression blocks SMC invasion of the stroma.

Conclusions— This in vitro model of SMC migration in the vessel wall provides an inexpensive, quantitative, and reliable tool to study the molecular and cellular mechanisms of intimal hyperplasia.

Key Words: smooth muscle cells • migration • intimal hyperplasia • tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 • human amnion