Model for the alignment of actin filaments in endothelial cells subjected to fluid shear stress |
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Authors: | A Suciu G Civelekoglu Y Tardy J -J Meister |
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Institution: | (1) Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, PSE-Ecublens, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland |
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Abstract: | Cultured vascular endothelial cells undergo significant morphological changes when subjected to sustained fluid shear stress.
The cells elongate and align in the direction of applied flow. Accompanying this shape change is a reorganization at the intracellular
level. The cytoskeletal actin filaments reorient in the direction of the cells' long axis. How this external stimulus is transmitted
to the endothelial cytoskeleton still remains unclear. In this article. we present a theoretical model accounting for the
cytoskeletal reorganization under the influence of fluid shear stress. We develop a system of integro-partial-differential
equations describing the dynamics of actin filaments, the actin-binding proteins, and the drift of transmembrane proteins
due to the fluid shear forces applied on the plasma membrane. Numerical simulations of the equations show that under certain
conditions, initially randomly oriented cytoskeletal actin filaments reorient in structures parallel to the externally applied
fluid shear forces. Thus, the model suggests a mechanism by which shear forces acting on the cell membrane can be transmitted
to the entire cytoskeleton via molecular interactions alone. |
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