Immunoblotting of contractile and cytoskeletal proteins of canine basilar artery in vasospasm.

Vasospasm was produced in the canine basilar arteries by a two-hemorrhage method, and voltage- and receptor-dependent contractions of the normal canine basilar arteries were induced by local applications of potassium chloride (KCI) and serotonin, respectively, after transclival exposure. Actin, myosin, desmin, filamin, talin, vinculin, and alpha-actinin in the basilar artery were studied by immunoblotting. The immunoblots showed a decrease or loss in immunoreactivity of some native proteins and generation of protein fragments, smaller in size than native proteins, in spastic, KCI, and serotonin groups, indicating a proteolytic degradation. In the spastic group on Day 2, actin, desmin, and filamin were usually degraded slightly; myosin moderately; and talin and alpha-actinin substantially. Vinculin and metavinculin remained intact. In the spastic group on Day 7, actin and desmin were usually decomposed slightly; myosin, filamin, and vinculin substantially; and talin, metavinculin, and alpha-actinin markedly. In the KCI and serotonin groups, slight degradation was usually observed in filamin, often in alpha-actinin, and occasionally in actin, whereas desmin, vinculin, and metavinculin were not degraded. In addition, myosin was usually degraded moderately in the KCI group and slightly in the serotonin group, and talin was generally decomposed slightly in the KCI group and moderately in the serotonin group. The degraded fragments, although variable in number and immunoreactivity, were similar in size in the three groups. We suggest that the intracellular devices responsible for contraction of the basilar arteries are degraded more severely in the spastic group than in the KCI or serotonin group, probably by similar proteolytic mechanism and progressively with the passage of time after subarachnoid hemorrhage in vasospasm.