Uterine smooth muscle S-nitrosylproteome in pregnancy.

ABSTRACT: The molecular mechanisms involved in uterine quiescence during gestation and those responsible for induction of labor are not completely known. Nitric oxide relaxes uterine smooth muscle in a manner disparate from that for other smooth muscles because global elevation of cGMP after activation of soluble guanylyl cyclase does not relax the muscle. S-Nitrosylation, the covalent addition of an nitric oxide (NO) group to a cysteine thiol is a likely mechanism to explain the ability of NO to relax myometrium. This work is the first to describe the myometrial S-nitrosylproteome in both pregnant and nonpregnant tissue states. Using the guinea pig model, we show that specific sets of proteins involved in contraction and relaxation are S-nitrosylated in laboring and nonlaboring muscle and that many

SUBMITTER: Ulrich C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3263952 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature