Micropatterned structural control suppresses mechanotaxis of endothelial cells.

ABSTRACT: Vascular endothelial cell migration is critical in many physiological processes including wound healing and stent endothelialization. To determine how preexisting cell morphology influences cell migration under fluid shear stress, endothelial cells were preset in an elongated morphology on micropatterned substrates, and unidirectional shear stress was applied either parallel or perpendicular to the cell elongation axis. On micropatterned 20-microm lines, cells exhibited an elongated morphology with stress fibers and focal adhesion sites aligned parallel to the lines. On 115-microm lines, cell morphology varied as a function of distance from the line edge. Unidirectional shear stress caused unpatterned cells in a confluent monolayer to exhibit triphasic mechanotaxis behavior. During the fir

SUBMITTER: Lin X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2527245 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature