Time to Start Actin Like a Reliable 'Housekeeper'!

A growing body of data and studies using actin antibodies supports a view of the actin cytoskeleton of smooth muscle cells as a dynamic structure that plays an integral role in regulating the development of mechanical tension and the material properties of smooth muscle tissues. The increase in the proportion of filamentous actin that occurs in response to the stimulation of smooth muscle cells and the essential role of stimulus-induced actin polymerization and cytoskeletal dynamics has been convincingly documented using actin antibodies in many smooth muscle tissues and cells using a wide variety of experimental approaches including Western blotting(1).

Western Blot: Actin Antibody

Western blotting is a powerful technique using antibodies to characterize a multitude of cellular proteins. As an internal control to assure even protein loading and gel migration, the blots are commonly probed with antibodies for ubiquitous "housekeeping" gene products. It has recently been shown that cell confluence significantly affects the levels of housekeeping genes; alpha-tubulin and Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate Dehydrogenase levels were affected by cell densities. On the other hand the levels of beta-actin remained unchanged at a wide range of cell densities, implying actin as a more reliable loading control (2).

1. PMID: 18596210
2. PMID: 20171969

Novus Biologicals offers Actin reagents for your research needs including:

• Actin primary antibodies
• Actin peptides and proteins
• Actin antibody packs