Smooth Muscle Cells - The outer smooth muscle layer is dissected away from the inner urothelial cell layer of the bladder prior to explant culturing to isolate the smooth muscle cells. Smooth muscle cells are found in lymphatic vessels, the walls of blood vessels, the bladder, the uterus, and other areas of the body. The primary function of smooth muscles is to create contractions in the presence of an external stimulus. This stimuli can differ in different areas of the body to generate individual effects. ATP hydrolysis provides energy for smooth muscle contractions. They are created by a sliding motion between actin filaments and myosin. These cells express the smooth muscle cell markers smooth muscle alpha-actin and calponin, and are functional as demonstrated by a cell contraction assay. zen-bio offers smooth muscle cells produced at Zen Bios facility from normal human tissues. Each vial contains 500,000 viable cells.

Each lots is tested by flow cytometry for the smooth muscle markers Calponin and smooth muscle alpha-actin. Additionally cells have tested negative for HIV-1, HIV-2, HTLV-1, HTLV-2, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and mycoplasma.