Once plaques intrude into the lumen, the shear stress they are exposed to alters with hitherto unknown consequences for plaque composition. We investigated the relationship between shear stress and strain, a marker for plaque composition, in human coronary arteries. We imaged 31 plaques in coronary arteries with angiography and intravascular ultrasound. Computational fluid dynamics was used to ...

Endothelial cells (ECs) sense shear stress and transduce blood flow information into functional responses that play important roles in vascular homeostasis and pathophysiology. A unique feature of shear-stress-sensing is the involvement of many different types of membrane-bound molecules, including receptors, ion channels and adhesion proteins, but the mechanisms remain unknown. Because cell me...

In this paper, an elastic constitutive model based on the Eulerian corotational rate of the logarithmic strain tensor is proposed. Using this model, the large deformation of a closed cycle containing tension, shear, compression and inverse shear is analyzed. Since the deformation path includes a closed cycle and the material is considered as an isotropic elastic material, the normal and shear c...

Hemodynamic shear stress regulates endothelial cell biochemical processes that govern cytoskeletal contractility, focal adhesion dynamics, and extracellular matrix (ECM) assembly. Since shear stress causes rapid strain focusing at discrete locations in the cytoskeleton, we hypothesized that shear stress coordinately alters structural dynamics in the cytoskeleton, focal adhesion sites, and ECM o...

The focal location of atherosclerosis in the vascular tree is correlated with local variations in shear stress. We developed a method to induce defined variations in shear stress in a straight vessel segment of a mouse. To this end, a cylinder with a tapered lumen was placed around the carotid artery, inducing a high shear stress field. Concomitantly, regions of low shear stress and oscillatory...

In this paper, an elastic constitutive model based on the Eulerian corotational rate of the logarithmic strain tensor is proposed. Using this model, the large deformation of a closed cycle containing tension, shear, compression and inverse shear is analyzed. Since the deformation path includes a closed cycle and the material is considered as an isotropic elastic material, the normal and shear c...

Hemodynamic shear stress from blood flow on the endothelium critically regulates vascular function in many physiological and pathological situations. Endothelial cells adapt to shear stress by remodeling their cytoskeletal components and subsequently by changing their shape and orientation. We demonstrate that β1 integrin activation is critically controlled during the mechanoresponse of endothe...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Little attention has been focused on the role of fluid-induced wall shear stress in fully developed cerebral aneurysms. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the alternation and distribution of wall shear stress over 1 cardiac cycle in patients' aneurysms. METHODS A middle cerebral artery aneurysm and a basilar tip aneurysm with localized outpouching (blebs) in their...

Shear stress due to mechanical loading-induced flow of interstitial fluid through the lacuno-canalicular network is a likely signal for bone cell adaptive responses. Moreover, the rate (determined by frequency and magnitude) of mechanical loading determines the amount of bone formation. Whether the bone cells' response to fluid shear stress is rate dependent is unknown. Here we investigated whe...

Vascular endothelial cells (EC) are continuously exposed to shear stress associated with the flowing blood. Over the years, it has become clear that such shear exerts a multitude of effects on endothelial biology and vascular function and structure, ranging in time span from seconds to months. On the scale of seconds, shear-dependent vasodilation has been demonstrated in many experimental setti...