Analysis of smooth muscle function in IRAG knockout mice

Signaling by NO/cGMP relaxes various smooth muscles, modulating thereby vascular tone and gastrointestinal motility. An important signaling pathway of cGMPdependent protein kinase type I (cGKI)-dependent relaxation is mediated by IRAG (IP3 Receptor Associated cGKI substrate) which is highly expressed in smooth muscle tissues. In order to elucidate the physiological role of IRAG we generated IRAG knockout mice by targeted deletion of exon 3.