Higher migratory activity of arterial smooth muscle cells than of venous smooth muscle cells on different collagen matrices

Objective: To examine the biological differences between arteries and veins , we compared the migratory activities of arterial and venous smooth muscle cells (SMCs) using a modified Boyden chamber method. Design: Migratory activities of porcine arterial and venous smooth muscle c ells (SMCs) were compared by a modified Boyden chamber method using coated filters with type I, III, IV and V collagens. Results: At the basal level of migration activity without stimulation, arte rial SMCs showed greater migratory activity than venous SMCs in all of the substrata. When platelet-derived growth factor was added to the lower wells , all of the migration activities increased, and arterial SMCs showed signi ficantly higher activity than venous SMCs. When cell-associated fibronectin was determined by an enzyme-linked immunoassay and immunohistochemistry, a rterial SMCs secreted significantly more cell-associated fibronectin than v enous SMCs. Type IV collagen had the greatest positive effect, and also ind uced the lowest level of cell-associated fibronectin. Conclusion: These in-vitro results indicate that fibronectin secreted by va scular smooth muscle is an important regulatory protein for cell migration even when SMCs migrate on collagen substrates. Arterial SMCs have higher mi gratory activities than venous SMCs as a result of their lower production o f fibronectin.