Xanthis, I., Souilhol, C., Serbanovic-Canic, J. et al. (15 more authors) (2019) β1 integrin is a sensor of blood flow direction. Journal of Cell Science, 132 (11). jcs229542. ISSN 0021-9533
Abstract
Endothelial cell (EC) sensing of fluid shear stress direction is a critical determinant of vascular health and disease. Unidirectional flow induces EC alignment and vascular homeostasis, whereas bidirectional flow has pathophysiological effects. EC express several mechanoreceptors that respond to flow but the mechanism for sensing shear stress direction is poorly understood. We observed using in vitro flow systems and magnetic tweezers that β1 integrin is a key sensor of force direction because it is activated by unidirectional but not bidirectional shearing forces. β1 integrin activation by unidirectional force was amplified in EC that were pre-sheared in the same direction, indicating that alignment and β1 integrin activity has a feedforward interaction which is a hallmark of system stability. En face staining and EC-specific genetic deletion studies of the murine aorta revealed that β1 integrin is activated and is essential for EC alignment at sites of unidirectional flow but is not activated at sites of bidirectional flow. In summary, β1 integrin sensing of unidirectional force is a key mechanism for decoding blood flow mechanics to promote vascular homeostasis.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed. |
Keywords: | shear stress; endothelial; atherosclerosis; mechanoreceptor |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number BRITISH HEART FOUNDATION RG/13/1/30042 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 23 Apr 2019 11:43 |
Last Modified: | 25 Nov 2021 12:25 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Company of Biologists |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1242/jcs.229542 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:145230 |