Fig. 2.

Lying below the endothelial layer of vascular vessel, vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are highly contractile cells involved in the maintenance of vessel structure and vascular tone. Under physiological condition contractile VSMCs use aerobic glycolysis to fuel oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) to generate energy, present a more fused mitochondrial network characterized by an increased expression of Mitofusin2 (MFN2). During atherogenesis, VSMCs turn to a synthetic phenotype characterized by highly proliferative and migratory potential. To maintain the increased anabolic demands including nucleotide and amino acids synthesis, synthetic VSMCs preferentially switch to anaerobic glycolysis with a fixed mitochondrial network.