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Stains

Actin-alpha cardiac

Reviewer: Nat Pernick, M.D., PathologyOutlines.com, Inc. (see Reviewers page)
Revised: 26 April 2011, last major update April 2011
Copyright: (c) 2002-2011, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.

General
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● There are two types of alpha sarcomeric/striated actin: alpha cardiac type and alpha skeletal muscle type; both are expressed in cardiac and skeletal muscle, but the proportions vary at different developmental periods (J Biol Chem 1994;269:12212) or with disease (Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom 2003;17:1467)
● Existence of two actin isoforms and their conformational differences may be part of tuning regulatory mechanism by which the cardiac muscle cells can maintain their biological function under pathological conditions (Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2008;368:696)
● Mutations in alpha cardiac actin may cause dilated or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (J Mol Cell Cardiol 2000;32:1687, J Biol Chem 2006;281:16777) or atrial septal defects (Hum Mol Genet 2008;17:256)

Positive staining (normal)
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● Myocardium (adult and fetal), skeletal muscle (fetal), skeletal muscle (adult-muscle spindle myocytes), vascular smooth muscle (occasional)

Positive staining (disease)
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● Skeletal muscle (regenerating skeletal muscle cells, Differentiation 1996;60:245), Duchenne muscular dystrophy, degenerative atrophy (Virchows Arch 2006;449:175), rhabdomyosacoma, Wilm’s tumor-rhabdomyomatous cells, occasional smooth muscle tumors

Negative staining
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● Skeletal muscle (adult, but muscle spindle myocytes are positive)

End of Stains > Actin-alpha cardiac

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