Document Type

Article

Source Publication Title

The Open Biomedical Engineering Journal

First Page

28

Last Page

38

Abstract

Under physiological and pathological conditions, vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) are exposed to different biochemical factors and biomechanical forces. Previous studies pertaining to SMC responses have not investigated the effects of both factors on SMCs. Thus, in our research we investigated the combined effects of growth factors like bFGF (basic fibroblast growth factor), TGF-�� (transforming growth factor ��) and PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor) along with physiological cyclic strain on SMC responses. Physiological cyclic strain (10% strain) significantly reduced SMC proliferation compared to static controls while addition of growth factors bFGF, TGF-�� or PDGF-AB had a positive influence on SMC growth compared to strain alone. Microarray analysis of SMCs exposed to these growth factors and cyclic strain showed that several bioactive genes (vascular endothelial growth factor, epidermal growth factor receptor, etc.) were altered upon exposure. Further work involving biochemical and pathological cyclic strain stimulation will help us better understand the role of cyclic strain and growth factors in vascular functions and development of vascular disorders.

Disciplines

Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering | Engineering

Publication Date

1-1-2009

Language

English

License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License

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