The interplay between adsorption and aggregation of von Willebrand factor chains in shear flows.

ABSTRACT: Von Willebrand factor (VWF) is a giant extracellular glycoprotein that carries out a key adhesive function during primary hemostasis. Upon vascular injury and triggered by the shear of flowing blood, VWF establishes specific interactions with several molecular partners in order to anchor platelets to collagen on the exposed subendothelial surface. VWF also interacts with itself to form aggregates that, adsorbed on the surface, provide more anchor sites for the platelets. However, the interplay between elongation and subsequent exposure of cryptic binding sites, self-association, and adsorption on the surface remained unclear for VWF. In particular, the role of shear flow in these three processes is not well understood. In this study, we address these questions by using Brownian dynamics si

SUBMITTER: Amaya-Espinosa H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10560680 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature