β1 integrin is a sensor of blood flow direction

• DOI: 10.1242/jcs.229542
• Publication Date: 2019-05-10T14:35:23Z
• Authors: Ioannis Xanthis; Celine Souilhol; Jovana Serbanovic...; Hannah Roddie; Antreas C. Kalli; Maria Fragiadaki; Raymond Wong; Dhruv R. Shah; Janet A. Askari; Lindsay Canham; Nasreen Akhtar; Shuang Feng; Victoria Ridger; Jonathan Waltho; Emmanuel Pinteaux; Martin J. Humphries; Matthew T. Bryan; Paul C. Evans
• Keywords: Mice, Knockout; 0301 basic medicine; 0303 health sciences; Integrin beta1; Cell Line; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; Regional Blood Flow; Stress, Physiological; Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells; Animals; Humans; Female; Mechanoreceptors; Aorta; Research Article

ABSTRACT Endothelial cell (EC) sensing of fluid shear stress direction is a critical determinant vascular health and disease. Unidirectional flow induces EC alignment homeostasis, whereas bidirectional has pathophysiological effects. ECs express several mechanoreceptors that respond to flow, but the mechanism for poorly understood. We determined, by using in vitro systems magnetic tweezers, β1 integrin key sensor force because it activated unidirectional, not bidirectional, shearing forces. activation unidirectional was amplified were pre-sheared same direction, indicating activity feedforward interaction, which hallmark system stability. En face staining EC-specific genetic deletion studies murine aorta revealed essential at sites flow. In summary, decoding blood mechanics promote homeostasis. This article an associated First Person interview with first author paper.