http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80 – Forces associated with blood flow are major determinants of vascular morphogenesis and physiology. Blood flow is crucial for blood vessel development during embryogenesis and for regulation of vessel diameter in adult life. It is also a key factor in atherosclerosis, which, despite the systemic nature of major risk factors, occurs mainly at regions of arteries that experience disturbances in fluid flow. Read more »

http://ajpheart.physiology.org – Vascular endothelial cells (ECs) play significant roles in regulating circulatory functions. Mechanical stimuli, including the stretch and shear stress resulting from circulatory pressure and flow, modulate EC functions by activating mechanosensors, signaling pathways, and gene and protein expressions. Read more »

http://arjournals.annualreviews.org – The formation of an arterial aneurysm is believed to be a multifactorial and predominantly degenerative process, resulting from a complex interplay between biological processes in the arterial wall and the hemodynamic stimuli on the vessel's wall. Once an aneurysm forms, the repetitive pressure and shear stresses exerted by the blood flow on the weakened arterial wall generally, but not always, cause a gradual expansion. Read more »

http://journal.shouxi.net – Vascular endothelial cells (ECs) are influenced by shear stress and neighboring smooth muscle cells (SMCs). We investigated the inflammation-relevant gene expression in EC/SMC cocultures under static condition and in response to shear stress. Our findings suggest that shear stress plays an inhibitory role in the proinflammatory gene expression in ECs located in close proximity to SMCs. ECs are influenced by shear stress and SMCs. DNA microarrays showed increased proinflammatory gene expressions in ECs by static SMC coculture. Shear stress inhibits these coculture-induced expressions. Read more »

http://www.pnas.org – The aim of this study is to elucidate the role of integrins in transducing fluid shear stress into intracellular signals in vascular endothelial cells, a fundamental process in vascular biology. We demonstrated that shear stress activates specific integrins in endothelial cells plated on substrates containing the cognate extracellular matrix (ECM) ligands. Read more »