help button home button Biophys. J.
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Mazzag, B. M.
Right arrow Articles by Barakat, A. I.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Mazzag, B. M.
Right arrow Articles by Barakat, A. I.
Biophysical Journal 84:4087-4101 (2003)
© 2003 The Biophysical Society

A Model for Shear Stress Sensing and Transmission in Vascular Endothelial Cells

Bori M. Mazzag, John S. Tamaresis and Abdul I. Barakat

Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering, University of California, Davis, California

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Abdul I. Barakat, Ph.D., Dept. of Mechanical & Aeronautical Engineering, University of California, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616. Tel.: 530-754-9295; Fax: 530-752-4158; E-mail: abarakat{at}ucdavis.edu.

Arterial endothelial cell (EC) responsiveness to flow is essential for normal vascular function and plays a role in the development of atherosclerosis. EC flow responses may involve sensing of the mechanical stimulus at the cell surface with subsequent transmission via cytoskeleton to intracellular transduction sites. We had previously modeled flow-induced deformation of EC-surface flow sensors represented as viscoelastic materials with standard linear solid behavior (Kelvin bodies). In the present article, we extend the analysis to arbitrary networks of viscoelastic structures connected in series and/or parallel. Application of the model to a system of two Kelvin bodies in parallel reveals that flow induces an instantaneous deformation followed by creeping to the asymptotic response. The force divides equally between the two bodies when they have identical viscoelastic properties. When one body is stiffer than the other, a larger fraction of the applied force is directed to the stiffer body. We have also probed the impact of steady and oscillatory flow on simple sensor-cytoskeleton-nucleus networks. The results demonstrated that, consistent with the experimentally observed temporal chronology of EC flow responses, the flow sensor attains its peak deformation faster than intracellular structures and the nucleus deforms more rapidly than cytoskeletal elements. The results have also revealed that a 1-Hz oscillatory flow induces significantly smaller deformations than steady flow. These results may provide insight into the mechanisms behind the experimental observations that a number of EC responses induced by steady flow are not induced by oscillatory flow.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Am. J. Physiol. Cell Physiol.Home page
P. J. Mack, M. R. Kaazempur-Mofrad, H. Karcher, R. T. Lee, and R. D. Kamm
Force-induced focal adhesion translocation: effects of force amplitude and frequency
Am J Physiol Cell Physiol, October 1, 2004; 287(4): C954 - C962.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2003 by the Biophysical Society.