Abstract
Background: Atherosclerotic plaques develop at arterial regions subjected to non-uniform shear stress, and are initiated by increased leukocyte-endothelial interactions. In this study, we investigated the effects of distinct shear stress patterns on endothelial recruitment of monocytic cells. Methods: Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (ECs) were exposed to laminar or non-uniform shear stress in bifurcating flow-through slides, followed by 2 h stimulation with TNF-α. To study cell adhesion, ECs were perfused with medium containing THP-1 monocytic cells for 1 h. Endothelial protein expression was determined by immunofluorescence. Results: Exposure to non-uniform shear stress and TNF-α lead to progressive induction of adhesion molecules and increase in monocytic cell adhesion observed over 0.5–3 h. To investigate the relative role of the shear stress patterns in monocytic cell recruitment, ECs were exposed to reduced levels of shear stress, resulting in a reduced gradient steepness in the non-uniform shear stress regions. Lowering the shear stress from 10 to 5 and 2 dyne/cm2 resulted in increased monocytic cell adhesion under laminar shear stress. However, in these conditions, adherent monocytic cells under non-uniform shear stress were strongly reduced. Moreover, in the region exposed to shear stress gradient parallel to flow direction, monocytic cell adhesion was significantly lower than in the region of non-uniform shear stress, characterized by transversal gradient. Conclusion: Exposure to non-uniform shear stress results in progressive induction of adhesion molecules and monocytic cell recruitment in response to circulating TNF-α. Enhanced monocytic cell recruitment at bifurcations is affected not only by the magnitude and steepness of shear stress gradient, but also by its direction in relation to the flow.