In order to observe the effects of nicotine on protein expression in rat vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs), nicotine treated SMCs were studied by proteomic technologies combining two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) and peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF). Real-time RT-PCR was used to validate the differentially expressed proteins. We found that 11 protein spots were significantly up-regulated and one down-regulated by nicotine treatment. The results of PMF showed that these up- and down-regulated proteins could be divided into three groups according to their functions: cytoskeleton proteins, regulatory proteins and enzymes. Simultaneously, we also verified their consistent alteration at the transcriptional level through real-time RT-PCR. The affected proteins turned out to be mainly associated with cell migration, proliferation and energy metabolism, and are responsible for nicotine-related cardiovascular damage.
Animals Cells, Cultured