[Establishment of an apoptosis model of vascular smooth muscle cells induced by ultraviolet-C radiation in vitro].

After a 10-min exposure to 254 nm UV-C radiation, aortic SMCs of rat were found to undergo apoptosis, characterized by cell shrinkage, condensation of cytoplasm, membrane blebbing, appearance of apoptotic body and DNA ladder in the agarose gel. Therefore, UV-C radiation can be used to generate a useful model for the investigation of the molecular regulatory mechanisms underlying SMCs apoptosis.