Vascular smooth muscle cell (peripheral artery) (VSMC)

Peripheral arterial smooth muscle refers to the smooth muscle cells predominantly located in the medial layer of peripheral arteries. These cells are essential for vessel contraction and relaxation, regulating blood flow and blood pressure. VSMCs show plasticity, switching phenotypes in response to injury or disease, and play central roles in vascular remodeling, arterial stiffness, calcification, and the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, and peripheral artery disease. Drugs exert therapeutic effects on the vasculature by acting on molecular targets within these cells. In summary, "peripheral arterial smooth muscle" is a tissue/cell population, not a canonical molecular or receptor target. For pharmacological or structured data purposes, the specific molecule or receptor of interest (such as "L-type calcium channel, alpha-1C subunit," or "angiotensin II receptor type 1") should be used instead.

Other names

vascular smooth muscle cellarterial smooth muscleVSMCsmooth muscle cell of artery

None specific (see above — drugs act via targets in VSMCs: e.g., Ca2+ channel blocking leads to vasodilation; angiotensin receptor antagonism reduces vasoconstriction)