Targeted Overexpression of IGF-I Evokes Distinct Patterns of Organ Remodeling in Smooth Muscle Cell Tissue Beds of Transgenic Mice

Smooth muscle cells (SMC) of the vascular wall, bladder, myometrium, and gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts re-tain the ability to proliferate postnatally, which enables adaptive responses to injury, hormonal, or mechanical stim-ulation. SMC growth is regulated by a number of mesenchy-mal growth factors, including insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). To explore the function of IGF-I on SMC in vivo, the mouse SMC