Smooth muscle contraction is the fundamental event in gastrointestinal motion. Inflammation of the human intestine causes thickening of the smooth muscle layers which results from the increases in the smooth muscle-specific actins. The increased smooth muscle actins may affect force production and further demonstrate the plasticity of smooth muscle in the inflamed intestine. Human intestinal smooth muscle cells respond to IL-1-beta and TNF-alpha stimulation by releasing IL-6, which might significantly contribute to the overall systemic inflammatory response. The colonic smooth muscle cells possess a different subtype of somatostatin receptor from gastric smooth muscle cells. The availability of human gastrointestinal smooth muscle cells in culture will considerably enhance our ability to study the contractile, proliferative and connective tissue responses of the smooth muscle of the human gastrointestinal tract.HCSMC from AcceGen Research Laboratories are isolated from the human colon. HCSMC are cryopreserved at primary or passage one culture and delivered frozen. Each vial contains >5×10^5 cells in 1 ml volume. HCSMC are characterized by immunofluorescent method with antibodies to Α-smooth muscle actin and desmin. HCSMC are negative for HIV-1, HBV, HCV, mycoplasma, bacteria, yeast and fungi. HCSMC are guaranteed to further expand for 15 population doublings in the condition provided by AcceGen Research Laboratories.
