Role of PKG in VSMC Growth and Differentiation

Because cAMP is a known inhibitor of VSMC proliferation in vitro (Fukumoto etal., 1988 Jonzon etal., 1985 Loesberg etal., 1985 Morisaki et al., 1988 Nakaki et al., 1990b Souness et al., 1992), we were interested to determine whether the inhibition of cell proliferation by cGMP was due to the activation of PKA instead of PKG. Such cross-activation of PKA 

1)3 inhibition of serum-stimulated SMC proliferation (Fig. 7). These results further suggest that activation of PKA by cGMP underlies the mechanism of inhibition of VSMC proliferation by cGMP. 

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