Actomyosin-like protein of arterial wall

¹ Department of Physiology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

A structural protein is extractable from hog carotids in solutions of low ionic strength (0.05 m KCl + 0.02 m histidine buffer). The following procedures cause precipitation of this protein: 1) standing 12 hr at 2–4 C, 2) dialysis against 0.05 m KCl, or 3) addition of 10 mm CaCl₂. The crude preparation obtained by any of these precipitation procedures fails to show superprecipitation on the addition of ATP, but when dissolved in 0.6 m KCl it does demonstrate a viscosity change on the addition of ATP and is capable of ATPase activity. If this crude preparation is purified by repeated calcium precipitation and dialysis against 0.05 m KCl, it then shows the following characteristics typical of actomyosin: 1) superprecipitation, 2) reversible viscosity change on addition of ATP, and 3) ATPase activity characteristically influenced by calcium, or magnesium, or ionic strength. We conclude that this structural protein from hog carotid is an actomyosin-like protein involved in a standard contractile system, and its initial high solubility at low ionic strength may be due either to a reduction in bound calcium or to the presence of an unusually effective solubilizing factor which, like relaxing factor, can be inhibited by calcium.

Key Words: tonoactomyosin • ATPase • contractile protein • vascular smooth muscle • contractile mechanism

Submitted on March 11, 1963