Bioabsorbable metal zinc differentially affects mitochondria in vascular endothelial and smooth muscle cells

•Zinc-based models of aortic stents differentially affect rat aortic smooth muscle and endothelial cells in vivo.•Seven-day exposure to 5 µM or 50 µM ZnSO4 affects several key nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes in smooth muscle and endothelial cells.•Concomitantly, 5 µM or 50 µM ZnSO4 affects cellular energy metabolism and mitochondrial network dynamics, but differently in both cell types.•Zinc affects mitochondrial form and function differently in smooth muscle and endothelia cells, which may underly in vivo observations.