Differential Global Gene Expression Response Patterns of Human Endothelium Exposed to Shear Stress and Intraluminal Pressure

Abstract

We investigated the global gene expression response of endothelium exposed to shear stress and intraluminal pressure and tested the hypothesis that the two biomechanical forces induce a differential gene expression response pattern. Intact living human conduit vessels (umbilical veins) were exposed to normal or high intraluminal pressure, or to low or high shear stress in combination with a physiological level of the other force in a unique vascular ex vivo perfusion system. Gene expression profiling was performed by the Affymetrix microarray technology on endothelial cells isolated from stimulated vessels. Biomechanical forces were found to regulate a very large number of genes in the vascular endothelium. In this study, 1,825 genes were responsive to mechanical forces, which corresponds to 17% of the expressed genes. Among pressure-responsive genes, 647 genes were upregulated and 519 genes were downregulated, and of shear stress-responsive genes, 133 genes were upregulated and 771 downregulated. The fraction of genes that responded to both pressure and shear stimulation was surprisingly low, only 13% of the regulated genes. Our results indicate that the two different stimuli induce distinct gene expression response patterns, which can also be observed when studying functional groups. Considering the low number of overlapping genes, we suggest that the endothelial cells can distinguish between shear stress and pressure stimulation.