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SUMMARY:Stressing Out Cells: flow-induced migration of endothelial cells a
 nd cell adhesion on hydrogels - Prof Gerry Fuller\, University of Stanford
DTSTART:20130328T110000Z
DTEND:20130328T120000Z
UID:TALK44008@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:32482
DESCRIPTION:Cells in the human body are constantly subjected to mechanical
  stresses and\nthis lecture discusses two examples: the response of vascul
 ar endothelial cells\nto spatially inhomogeneous wall shear stresses and t
 he adhesion of corneal\nepithelial cells to hydrogel surfaces (contact len
 ses).\n\nThe ability of the endothelial cells that line the interior of bl
 ood vessels to\nsense and respond to fluid flow is an essential component 
 of cardiovascular\ndevelopment\, homeostasis\, and disease. In particular\
 , the endothelium at\narterial bends\, branches\, and at surface irregular
 ities is prone to chronic\ninflammation that contributes to the developmen
 t of atherosclerotic lesions.\nHowever\, while extensive work has characte
 rized the response of these cells to\nuniform\, laminar flow\, the respons
 e of endothelial cells to the complex\,\nspatially varying wall shear stre
 sses present in vivo remains poorly\nunderstood. We investigated the effec
 ts of complex flows on endothelial cells\nin vitro using a novel impinging
  flow device that exposes endothelial cells to\nshear stress gradients and
  stagnation point flows similar to those found at\narterial bifurcations. 
 We found that in all cases human microvascular\nendothelial cells migrated
  toward the vicinity of the stagnation point\, and\nagainst the direction 
 of fluid flow. We also found that these cells aligned\nparallel to the flo
 w direction at low levels of shear stress\, but perpendicular\nto the flow
  direction near the center\, stagnation point. These observations\nsuggest
  that endothelial cell migration and polarization may thus play\npresently
  unrecognized roles in the early stages of atherosclerotic lesion\nformati
 on\, particularly in regions of complex flow.\n\nAdhesion of corneal epith
 elial cells to hydrogel surfaces causes discomfort\nwhen wearing contact l
 enses. Work is presented using a newly developed\ninstrument where the str
 ess-strain response of living cells sandwiched between\ntwo shearing surfa
 ces can be measured. In these experiments\, the moving\, upper\nsurface is
  a contact lens. Simultaneously\, live-cell imaging is conducted to\nrevea
 l cell deformation when adhesion to the lens occurs. It is demonstrated\nt
 hat cell-lens adhesion is greatly accelerated in the presence of lysozyme\
 , a\nprotein presence in the tear film. The influence of this protein on d
 ewetting\nof contact lens surfaces is also discussed.
LOCATION:Small Lecture Theatre\, Cavendish Laboratory
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