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Abstract
Vascular smooth muscle contraction plays a defining role in the regulation and maintenance
of blood pressure, and its deregulation is associated with many clinical syndromes
including hypertension, coronary vasospasm and congestive heart failure. Over the
past 20 years, there has been a growing understanding of the regulation of 20 kDa
myosin light chain phosphorylation by myosin light chain kinase and myosin light chain
phosphatase, the role of splice-variant isoforms of both the myosin heavy chain and
the essential myosin light chain, as well as the signaling pathways involved in smooth
muscle contraction under normal and pathophysiological conditions. This review will
attempt to recapitulate the data in the field, primarily focusing on the contractile
response of smooth muscle, and the molecular determinants responsible for the regulation
of vascular tone.