Figure 1.

Stereoisomers of the CCB amlodipine with or without CCB activity have equivalent effects on proteoglycan synthesis in human VSMCs. Human VSMCs were treated with (S−)-amlodipine (1–10 μmol/L, CCB inhibitor) and (R+)-amlodipine (1–10 μmol/L, no CCB activity) in the presence of TGF-β1 (top) and endothelin-1 (ET-1, bottom) and metabolically labeled with [³⁵S]-SO₄ for 24 h. Proteoglycans were quantitated by the CPC precipitation assay (left) and assessed by SDS-PAGE (right) as described previously (Nigro et al 2002). Abbreviations: CCB, calcium channel blockers; CPC, cetylpyridinium chloride; SDS-PAGE, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis; TGF, transforming growth factor; VSMCs, vascular smooth muscle cells.