In the gastrointestinal tract musculatures, c-Kit receptor tyrosine kinase is specifically expressed in interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC). ICC are distributed among the smooth muscle cells and are either bipolar or multipolar in shape. Our previous and current study shows that c-Kit-immunopositive smooth muscle cells are present in the murine cecum. Here, we found that c-Kit-expressing smooth muscle cells (named Kit-SM cells) are situated at the submucosal surface of the circular muscle layer. These cells showed smooth muscle actin and myosin immunoreactivities and ultrastructural features such as thick and thin filaments and caveolae. Kit-SM cells also expressed TMEM16A and LRIG1, which are known to be expressed in ICC. Although the functional significance of Kit-SM cells has yet to be revealed, these cells can be considered to have proliferation or differentiation potential in the cecal musculature.

中文翻译：

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小鼠盲肠中新型表达c-Kit的平滑肌细胞的研究。

在胃肠道肌肉组织中，c-Kit受体酪氨酸激酶在Cajal间质细胞（ICC）中特异性表达。ICC分布在平滑肌细胞之间，呈双极或多极形状。我们先前和当前的研究表明，小鼠盲肠中存在c-Kit免疫阳性平滑肌细胞。在这里，我们发现表达c-Kit的平滑肌细胞（称为Kit-SM细胞）位于环状肌层的粘膜下表面。这些细胞显示出平滑肌肌动蛋白和肌球蛋白的免疫反应性以及超微结构特征，如粗细丝和小窝。Kit-SM细胞还表达了已知在ICC中表达的TMEM16A和LRIG1。尽管尚未揭示Kit-SM细胞的功能意义，