Differential development of umbilical and systemic arteries. II. Contractile proteins

In fetal sheep, umbilical responsiveness to ANG II exceeds systemic vascular responsiveness. Fetal systemic vascular smooth muscle (VSM) exhibits an immature phenotype with decreased contractile protein contents, low 200-kDa myosin heavy chain (MHC) SM2, and significant nonmuscle MHC-B expression, whereas umbilical VSM phenotype is incompletely described. We tested the hypothesis that differences in vascular responsiveness could reflect dissimilarities in VSM phenotype. Actin, MHC, MHC isoforms, and active stresses were compared in strips of femoral arteries and aorta from near-term fetal (n = 12) and adult (n = 12) sheep to those in external and intra-abdominal umbilical arteries. Actin contents in fetal femoral artery and aorta were less (