Articles |
From the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (Y.T., C.F.D.); and the Vascular Research Division, Department of Pathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass (N.R., T.N., M.A.G.).
Correspondence to Yanik Tardy, Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, PSE-Ecublens, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
| Abstract |
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Key Words: shear stress gradient endothelium motility proliferation atherosclerosis
| Introduction |
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In contrast to the numerous studies involving uniform shear stress,2 3 little is known about the effects of large shear stress gradients on the structure and function of vascular endothelium. In vivo, artificially created constrictions have been used to study the morphology10 11 and repair capability9 of the endothelium as well as lipid deposition12 in the different regions of the stenosis. In an attempt to better characterize the cell biological effects of such disturbances, Depaola et al13 developed an in vitro model that recreates in a cone-and-plate apparatus14 the large gradients in shear found near arterial bifurcations. Cell density measurements and cell proliferation assays in these experiments,13 suggested that cell migration is an important cellular response to disturbed flow. Using a modified parallel plate system that allows for continuous time-lapse video microscopy, it was possible in the current study to explore this hypothesis by analyzing the detailed migratory history of endothelial cells subjected to well-defined large shear stress gradients.
| Materials and Methods |
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Shear Stress Apparatus and Flow Conditions
A parallel plate flow chamber16 was modified by
placement of a rectangular obstacle perpendicular to the flow field
(Fig 1
). The flow-disturbing bar was
1.0 mm wide and 0.4 mm high, and it fully crossed the
5-mm-wide flow channel. The details of the flow separation,
reattachment, and recovery to predisturbance conditions were
calculated by solving the 2D Navier-Stokes equations using the
computational fluid dynamics code NEKTON.17 For our
specific experimental conditions (14 dyne/cm2, Reynolds
number 20), the simulation predicted a negative shear stress region
extending from the obstacle to the reattachment point with a maximum
shear stress gradient of 34 dyne/cm2 per mm located
0.6 mm downstream from the obstacle. The reattachment point could
be visualized by the trajectories of small debris flowing in the medium
and corresponded well to the simulation (0.7 mm downstream from
the bar). The shear stress recovered its nondisturbed value 1.5 mm
from the bar. As a comparison, 14 dyne/cm2 uniform shear
stress experiments, ie, without the flow-disturbing bar, were also
performed and are referred to as the "nondisturbed flow condition"
in this paper.
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Note that the maximum shear stress gradient of 34 dyne/cm2 per mm produced by the disturbed flow conditions selected in this study is comparable with what can be expected in vivo. For example, gradients greater than 10 dyne/cm2 per mm can be calculated from the spatial wall shear stress distribution measured by Lutz et al8 in a model canine aorta during steady flow.
The flow chamber was placed on the stage of a Nikon Diaphot inverted microscope perfused with culture medium. The pH of the circulating medium was maintained at 7.4 by bubbling 5% CO2/95% air in the reservoir. Both the flow chamber and the medium reservoir were maintained at 37°C. Dextran (476 000 mol wt, 2.3% wt/vol; Sigma) was used to control the viscosity of the medium. Phase-contrast images of the cell monolayer were recorded every 4 seconds using a time-lapse video recorder (Panasonic, AG 6730) during a typical 48-hour experiment.
Cell Spatial Density Distribution
At the conclusion of the experiment, cells were fixed in 2%
paraformaldehyde at 4°C and stained with Wright's
Giemsa solution (Fig 2
). In a typical
sample (Fig 3b
), the cell density was
measured in the disturbed flow region by counting the number of cells
in 24 rectangular strips (0.1 mm wide by 1.0 mm length)
oriented perpendicular to the flow.
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Cell Tracking and Motility Parameters
Software was developed to control the video recorder through
the RS232 port of an IBM compatible computer. This allowed the tapes to
be replayed and paused on any specified frame. The system would
automatically digitize and store one image every 10 minutes on the hard
disk. A total of 20 individual cells were then tracked
semiautomatically by pointing at their nuclei and creating a database
of their position during the course of the experiment.
To characterize cell motility, two parameters were calculated: cumulative distance and net displacement. The cumulative distance is the sum of the distances traveled by the cell integrated along its trajectory. The net displacement is the distance between the locations of the cell at the beginning and at the end of the experiment. To analyze the influence of flow, both parameters were decomposed into their respective projections perpendicular and parallel to the direction of flow.
Cell Loss and Division
When replayed at higher speed (1 minute of replay=2 hours of
real time), cell division and detachment of individual cell could
clearly be seen and counted. In three experiments, the rate of cell
loss and division was measured in three specific regions; directly
behind the obstacle, in the flow reattachment region, and downstream
from the flow recovery region (the exact location and dimensions of the
three regions are specified in Fig 7
).
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| Results |
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Similar morphological observations were reported by DePaola et
al13 with bovine aortic endothelial cells,
with the exception of the increased cell density immediately downstream
from the flow-disturbing bar that is apparent in the current data from
human endothelial cells in Fig 2b
. In the earlier
experiments, the comparison between the spatial distributions of cell
density and percentage of cells committed to division suggested that
cell migration was being activated in the region of high shear
stress gradient.
Increased Cell Motility and Production of Net
Migration
Disturbed flow conditions increase cell motility and produce a net
migration away from the region of high shear gradient. A total of 20
randomly selected cells that were initially located along the
reattachment line have been tracked during the course of the
experiment. Individual cell tracks shown in Fig 4
for disturbed and nondisturbed flow
conditions confirm that the shear stress gradients can have a strong
effect on cellular movement in vitro. Cells originally located around
the reattachment line can migrate up to 10 cell diameters either
upstream or downstream (Fig 4b
). In contrast, cells subjected to
nondisturbed flow conditions slide along each other and continuously
rearrange their relative position as they change their shape. The
direction of these movements was more or less random, resulting in
negligible net cell migration; these cells were found predominantly
within one cell diameter (
40 µm) from their original position
(Fig 4a
).
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Besides having a more directional motility pattern, as measured by an
increased net displacement, cells subjected to disturbed flow
conditions demonstrated a higher intrinsic motility. The average rate
of movement, as measured by the cumulative distance traveled during 48
hours, was several times that of cells subjected to uniform shear
stress (Fig 5b
).
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Finally, it was noted that both disturbed and nondisturbed flow
conditions biased cell motility in the flow direction. Both cell
populations in Fig 5b
are located in the lower right sector of the
figure, signifying a preferential motion in the axial direction.
Taken together, these data indicate that endothelial cells respond to shear stress gradients in two ways: first, by increasing their net motility (increased cumulative distance); and second, by exhibiting a more organized motile activity resulting in a net migration away from the region of maximum shear stress gradient.
The migration rate as a function of shear stress gradient cannot,
however, be rigorously measured from these data since an individual
cell experiences different flow conditions as it moves in the shear
stress gradient. To account for that, groups of 20 cells have been
tracked during a limited period of time (1 hour) in three specific
regions (flow reversal, flow reattachment, and flow recovery regions).
The group velocities obtained in these regions are shown as a function
of time in Fig 6
. In the flow reversal
region, the average group velocity is -9 µm/hour, indicating a
net migration toward the obstacle whereas in the flow recovery region,
the migration velocity is in the downstream direction (+9
µm/hour). In the reattachment region, the group velocity oscillates
around zero, indicating no net migration but a rather disperse
distribution of cell velocities. Therefore, the shear stress gradient
separates the cell population around the reattachment line, part of it
being dragged upstream along with the negative shear stress and the
rest of it being pushed downstream across the flow recovery region.
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The migration rates are almost constant during the course of the
experiment. As discussed below, this indicates that cells have to
proliferate near the reattachment line to reach the rather steady
spatial density distribution depicted in Figs 2
and 3
.
Proliferation, Migration, Accumulation, and Detachment
Cells appear to continuously proliferate in the high shear stress
gradient region, then migrate upstream and downstream where they
accumulate and eventually detach. Cell proliferation and detachment
rates were estimated in the reattachment region and upstream and
downstream from the flow reversal and recovery region, respectively
(Fig 7
). As compared with the nondisturbed flow region, cell
proliferation is clearly greater around the reattachment line.
Simultaneously, detachment rates are higher than
nondisturbed values in the two other regions. Note that these regions
of increased cell loss correspond to the regions where cells
accumulate, as was observed in the density distribution of Fig 3b
.
Combined with the migration pattern observed above, these findings suggest the existence of a chronic cell proliferation-migration-loss cycle in the disturbed flow region. The shear stress gradient stimulates cell motility and separates the cell population that migrates in the flow direction either upstream or downstream from the reattachment line. In this region, the density drop and/or the shear stress gradient stimulates cell proliferation, which is in turn balanced by cell loss in upstream and downstream regions where cells accumulate.
| Discussion |
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The ability to directly visualize the behavior of individual cells and groups of cells by live-time videomicroscopy, as they were subjected to disturbed flow in a specially designed parallel plate flow cuvette, facilitated our experimental analysis of the patterns of cellular responses elicited. In the vicinity of the reattachment line, cells were observed to proliferate and were much more motile than their counterparts in confluent monolayers maintained under static (no flow) conditions. With time, cell migration was seen to occur in the flow direction, away from the reattachment line. This directional movement was not typically observed under nondisturbed flow and may reflect a combination of factors such as the intrinsic greater motility of individual cells stimulated by the disturbed flow and the directional shear stress profile (negative shear stress upstream from the attachment line and positive shear stress on the downstream side). Finally, cells accumulated and then detached in the upstream and downstream regions where the shear stress gradients became negligible. A detailed analysis of the dynamic balance of cell loss and migratory rates would require more sophisticated experiments. However, the observed migration velocities and proliferation rates are self-consistent. In the present work, we had to find a compromise between using a lower magnification lens that provides a larger field of view and therefore more cell counts and a higher magnification that is more appropriate for cell tracking but requires a larger number of experiments.
The mechanism(s) by which endothelial cells can sense externally applied fluid shear stresses have not yet been fully defined, although activation of potassium channels and localized changes in cytosolic ionized calcium have been reported.16 19 20 Recent studies by Davies et al21 suggest that significant shear gradients generated over the irregular surface contour of individual endothelial cells, within a confluent monolayer, can be transduced into intracellular biochemical responses that are important in cell shape change and alignment. Conceivably, opposing tractive forces generated along the line of flow reattachment, acting at the level of the intercellular junctions between adjacent cells, might also contribute to the activation of cell motility observed in the current study.
In vivo, due to the pulsatile nature of blood flow, regions of flow separation are not as stable or localized as they were in our in vitro model. However, if such a cell proliferation-migration-loss cycle exists in vivo, endothelial cells located in regions of high shear stress gradients, eg, near arterial bifurcations, would be predicted to be undergoing more rapid turnover than elsewhere in the arterial system, resulting in episodic and localized changes in endothelial metabolic activity and intimal integrity. This is, in fact, consistent with in vivo findings of focally increased intimal permeability and increased cell cycle activity at these sites in experimental animal models of atherogenesis,22 23 as well as the occurrence of large, senescent-appearing intimal surface cells overlying atherosclerotic lesions in humans.24 Our in vitro findings thus suggest that a chronic endothelial cell proliferation-migration-loss cycle, stimulated by local shear stress gradients, may be a key factor in arterial wall remodeling under pathophysiologic conditions.7 9
| Acknowledgments |
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Received December 20, 1996; accepted February 27, 1997.
| References |
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