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Originally published as Biophys J. BioFAST on September 23, 2005.
doi:10.1529/biophysj.104.058750
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Biophysical Journal 89:3904-3910 (2005)
© 2005 The Biophysical Society

Influence of Hydrocortisone on the Mechanical Properties of the Cerebral Endothelium In Vitro

Sebastian Schrot *, Christian Weidenfeller *, Tilman E. Schäffer {dagger} {ddagger}, Horst Robenek § and Hans-Joachim Galla * {ddagger}

* Institute for Biochemistry, and {dagger} Institute of Physics, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster Wilhelm-Klemm-Straße 2, 48149 Münster, Germany; {ddagger} Center for NanoTechnology, 48149 Münster, Germany; and § LIFA-Leibniz-Institute for Arteriosclerosis Research at the University of Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany

Correspondence: Address reprint requests to Hans-Joachim Galla, E-mail: gallah{at}uni-muenster.de.

Cerebral endothelial cells accomplish the barrier functions between blood and brain interstitium. Structural features are the tight junctions between adjacent endothelial cells and the formation of marginal folds at the cell-cell contacts. The glucocorticoid hydrocortisone (HC) has been reported to enforce the blood-brain-barrier in vitro measurable by an increase of the transendothelial electrical resistance. This study shows the impact of HC on the mechanical and morphological properties of confluent cell layers of brain microvascular endothelial cells. HC induces an increase in height of these marginal folds and a reduction of the intercellular contact surface. These morphological changes are accompanied by changes in cell elasticity. Staining of fibrous actin indicates that HC induces a reorganization of the actin cortex. The quantitative determination of the local elastic properties of cells reveals for the first time an HC-induced increase of the representative Young's modulus according to cytoskeletal rearrangements. For this study, cells of two different species, porcine brain capillary endothelial cells and murine brain capillary endothelial cells, were used yielding similar results, which clearly demonstrates that the HC effect on the cell elasticity is species independent.




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