Cell Cycle and Cell Migration

ormation of a healed arterial wound is a landmark event during the repair of vascular lesions. Adult coronary, peripheral, and cerebral arteries are exposed to multiple stresses, including mechanical trauma, endothelial denudation, damage to intimal and medial smooth muscle, abnormal shear stresses, and oxidation of LDL by macrophages, and they must undergo repair. This wound repair process, like in many other organs, requires that a complex network of molecular signals be regulated within the cytoplasm and nucleus of an endothelial or smooth muscle cell. The cell cycle is a key regulator of these signals and has direct effects on multiple cell processes, including cell proliferation, DNA repair, apoptosis, and cell migration.