scholarly journals Adaptive response of vascular endothelial cells to an acute increase in shear stress frequency

2013 ◽  
Vol 305 (6) ◽  
pp. H894-H902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Zhang ◽  
Morton H. Friedman

Local shear stress sensed by arterial endothelial cells is occasionally altered by changes in global hemodynamic parameters, e.g., heart rate and blood flow rate, as a result of normal physiological events, such as exercise. In a recently study ( 41 ), we demonstrated that during the adaptive response to increased shear magnitude, porcine endothelial cells exhibited an unique phenotype featuring a transient increase in permeability and the upregulation of a set of anti-inflammatory and antioxidative genes. In the present study, we characterize the adaptive response of these cells to an increase in shear frequency, another important hemodynamic parameter with implications in atherogenesis. Endothelial cells were preconditioned by a basal-level sinusoidal shear stress of 15 ± 15 dyn/cm2 at 1 Hz, and the frequency was then elevated to 2 Hz. Endothelial permeability increased slowly after the frequency step-up, but the increase was relatively small. Using microarrays, we identified 37 genes that are sensitive to the frequency step-up. The acute increase in shear frequency upregulates a set of cell-cycle regulation and angiogenesis-related genes. The overall adaptive response to the increased frequency is distinctly different from that to a magnitude step-up. However, consistent with the previous study, our data support the notion that endothelial function during an adaptive response is different than that of fully adapted endothelial cells. Our studies may also provide insights into the beneficial effects of exercise on vascular health: transient increases in frequency may facilitate endothelial repair, whereas similar increases in shear magnitude may keep excessive inflammation and oxidative stress at bay.

2012 ◽  
Vol 302 (4) ◽  
pp. H983-H991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Zhang ◽  
Morton H. Friedman

The adaptation of vascular endothelial cells to shear stress alteration induced by global hemodynamic changes, such as those accompanying exercise or digestion, is an essential component of normal endothelial physiology in vivo. An understanding of the transient regulation of endothelial phenotype during adaptation to changes in mural shear will advance our understanding of endothelial biology and may yield new insights into the mechanism of atherogenesis. In this study, we characterized the adaptive response of arterial endothelial cells to an acute increase in shear stress magnitude in well-defined in vitro settings. Porcine endothelial cells were preconditioned by a basal level shear stress of 15 ± 15 dyn/cm2 at 1 Hz for 24 h, after which an acute increase in shear stress to 30 ± 15 dyn/cm2 was applied. Endothelial permeability nearly doubled after 40-min exposure to the elevated shear stress and then decreased gradually. Transcriptomics studies using microarray techniques identified 86 genes that were sensitive to the elevated shear. The acute increase in shear stress promoted the expression of a group of anti-inflammatory and antioxidative genes. The adaptive response of the global gene expression profile is triphasic, consisting of an induction period, an early adaptive response (ca. 45 min) and a late remodeling response. Our results suggest that endothelial cells exhibit a specific phenotype during the adaptive response to changes in shear stress; this phenotype is different than that of fully adapted endothelial cells.


Author(s):  
Ji Zhang ◽  
Morton H. Friedman

Previous studies have shown a substantial effect of shear stress on endothelial phenotype and functions such as production of nitric oxide, secretion of growth factors, inflammatory responses, production of reactive oxygen species, permeability to macromolecules and cytoskeletal remodeling [1–3]. However, the dynamics of the endothelial adaptive response to changes in shear stress are largely unknown. The response of vascular endothelial cells to alterations in shear stress is an essential component of normal endothelial physiology, since local shear stress can be altered in vivo by the global hemodynamic changes that are caused by daily activities such as exercise, sleep, smoking and stress. The duration of these changes ranges from minutes to hours. When adapting to the altered shear stress, endothelial cells undergo a series of structural remodeling and morphological changes, and a transient alteration of endothelial phenotype will be induced. An understanding of the transient regulation of endothelial phenotype will not only improve our knowledge of normal endothelial physiology but also yield insights into mechanisms underlying atherogenesis.


2013 ◽  
Vol 305 (11) ◽  
pp. L844-L855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Yuan Jian ◽  
Mikhail F. Alexeyev ◽  
Paul E. Wolkowicz ◽  
Jaroslaw W. Zmijewski ◽  
Judy R. Creighton

Acute lung injury secondary to sepsis is a leading cause of mortality in sepsis-related death. Present therapies are not effective in reversing endothelial cell dysfunction, which plays a key role in increased vascular permeability and compromised lung function. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a molecular sensor important for detection and mediation of cellular adaptations to vascular disruptive stimuli. In this study, we sought to determine the role of AMPK in resolving increased endothelial permeability in the sepsis-injured lung. AMPK function was determined in vivo using a rat model of endotoxin-induced lung injury, ex vivo using the isolated lung, and in vitro using cultured rat pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs). AMPK stimulation using N1-(α-d-ribofuranosyl)-5-aminoimidizole-4-carboxamide or metformin decreased the LPS-induced increase in permeability, as determined by filtration coefficient ( Kf) measurements, and resolved edema as indicated by decreased wet-to-dry ratios. The role of AMPK in the endothelial response to LPS was determined by shRNA designed to decrease expression of the AMPK-α1 isoform in capillary endothelial cells. Permeability, wounding, and barrier resistance assays using PMVECs identified AMPK-α1 as the molecule responsible for the beneficial effects of AMPK in the lung. Our findings provide novel evidence for AMPK-α1 as a vascular repair mechanism important in the pulmonary response to sepsis and identify a role for metformin treatment in the management of capillary injury.


2018 ◽  
Vol 315 (5) ◽  
pp. H1477-H1485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimiko Yamamoto ◽  
Hiromi Imamura ◽  
Joji Ando

Vascular endothelial cells (ECs) sense and transduce hemodynamic shear stress into intracellular biochemical signals, and Ca2+ signaling plays a critical role in this mechanotransduction, i.e., ECs release ATP in the caveolae in response to shear stress and, in turn, the released ATP activates P2 purinoceptors, which results in an influx into the cells of extracellular Ca2+. However, the mechanism by which the shear stress evokes ATP release remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that cellular mitochondria play a critical role in this process. Cultured human pulmonary artery ECs were exposed to controlled levels of shear stress in a flow-loading device, and changes in the mitochondrial ATP levels were examined by real-time imaging using a fluorescence resonance energy transfer-based ATP biosensor. Immediately upon exposure of the cells to flow, mitochondrial ATP levels increased, which was both reversible and dependent on the intensity of shear stress. Inhibitors of the mitochondrial electron transport chain and ATP synthase as well as knockdown of caveolin-1, a major structural protein of the caveolae, abolished the shear stress-induced mitochondrial ATP generation, resulting in the loss of ATP release and influx of Ca2+ into the cells. These results suggest the novel role of mitochondria in transducing shear stress into ATP generation: ATP generation leads to ATP release in the caveolae, triggering purinergic Ca2+ signaling. Thus, exposure of ECs to shear stress seems to activate mitochondrial ATP generation through caveola- or caveolin-1-mediated mechanisms. NEW & NOTEWORTHY The mechanism of how vascular endothelial cells sense shear stress generated by blood flow and transduce it into functional responses remains unclear. Real-time imaging of mitochondrial ATP demonstrated the novel role of endothelial mitochondria as mechanosignaling organelles that are able to transduce shear stress into ATP generation, triggering ATP release and purinoceptor-mediated Ca2+ signaling within the cells.


2020 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yiwei Zhao ◽  
Peile Ren ◽  
Qiufang Li ◽  
Shafiu Adam Umar ◽  
Tan Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Atherosclerosis is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity. Studies suggest that the chemokine receptor CX3CR1 plays a critical role in atherogenesis. Shear stress is an important mechanical force that affects blood vessel function. In this study, we investigated the effect of shear stress on CX3CR1 expression in vascular endothelial cells (VECs). First, cells were exposed to different shear stress and then CX3CR1 mRNA and protein were measured by quantitative RT-PCR and western blot analysis, respectively. CX3CR1 gene silencing was used to analyze the molecular mechanisms underlying shear stress-mediated effects on CX3CR1 expression. CX3CR1 mRNA and protein expression were significantly increased with 4.14 dyne/cm2 of shear stress compared with other tested levels of shear stress. We observed a significant increase in CX3CR1 mRNA levels at 2 h and CX3CR1 protein expression at 4 h. CX3CR1-induced VCAM-1 expression in response to low shear stress by activating NF-κB signaling pathway in VECs. Our findings demonstrate that low shear stress increases CX3CR1 expression, which increases VCAM-1 expression due to elevated NF-κB activation. The current study provides evidence of the correlation between shear stress and atherosclerosis mediated by CX3CR1.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document