Sex-Specific Response to Combinations of Shear Stress and Substrate Stiffness by Endothelial Cells In Vitro. Adv Healthc Mater 2021 Sep;10(18):e2100735
Date
06/19/2021Pubmed ID
34142471Pubmed Central ID
PMC8458248DOI
10.1002/adhm.202100735Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85108004331 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 24 CitationsAbstract
By using a full factorial design of experiment, the combinatorial effects of biological sex, shear stress, and substrate stiffness on human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) spreading and Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1) activity are able to be efficiently evaluated. Within the range of shear stress (0.5-1.5 Pa) and substrate stiffness (10-100 kPa), male HUVECs are smaller than female HUVECs. Only with sufficient mechanical stimulation do they spread to a similar size. More importantly, YAP1 nuclear localization in female HUVECs is invariant to mechanical stimulation within the range of tested conditions whereas for male HUVECs it increases nonlinearly with increasing shear stress and substrate stiffness. The sex-specific response of HUVECs to combinations of shear stress and substrate stiffness reinforces the need to include sex as a biological variable and multiple mechanical stimuli in experiments, informs the design of precision biomaterials, and offers insight for understanding cardiovascular disease sexual dimorphisms. Moreover, here it is illustrated that different complex mechanical microenvironments can lead to sex-specific phenotypes and sex invariant phenotypes in cultured endothelial cells.
Author List
James BD, Allen JBAuthor
Josephine Allen PhD, MS Professor in the Pediatrics department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Cell LineCells, Cultured
Female
Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
Humans
Male
Phenotype
Stress, Mechanical
