Protein expression changed by nicotine in rat vascular smooth muscle cells.

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.