This award supports the participation of American scientists in a U.S.-Japan seminar on Molecular and Cellular Aspects of Vascular Smooth Muscle Function, to be held in Hawaii from May 12-15, l999. The co-organizers are Professors R. Clinton Webb at the University of Michigan and Masamitsu Iino at the University of Tokyo in Japan. Molecular and cellular aspects of vascular function will be analyzed with regard to contraction and relaxation. Contraction and relaxation of vascular smooth muscle involves four differentiable processes: 1) membrane excitation; 2) excitation-contraction coupling; 3) energy metabolism; and 4) chemomechanical transduction. Although these are the same processes that are involved in the function of other muscle, there are important individualities among the various muscle types and a high degree of specialization among the researchers. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the regulatory influences of nerves and the endothelium.
Many new advances have been made in these specific areas. They are: 1) the involvement of the cytoskeleton in vascular smooth muscle contraction; 2) the role of specialized areas of the plasma membrane in excitation-contraction coupling; and 3) the complex action by which a rho-associated kinase phosphorylates, and thereby inhibits myosin phosphatase. Seminar organizers have made a special effort to involve younger researchers. The exchange of ideas and data with Japanese experts in this field will enable U.S. participants to advance their own work, and will set the stage for future collaborative projects. ***
