Effects of the interaction between fluid wall shear stress and solid circumferential strain on gene expression in endothelial cells

Hemodynamic forces play an important role in the initiation and development of atherosclerosis. Hemodynamics forces influence endothelial homeostasis as well as the non-uniform distribution of atherosclerotic lesions. Endothelial cells lining the walls of blood vessels are exposed simultaneously to fluid wall shear stress (WSS) driven by pulsatile blood flow and the solid circumferential stress (CS) driven by pulsatile blood pressure and associated strain. Due to wave reflections and variations in impedance (global factors) and geometric complexities (local factors) in the arterial circulation a time lag arises between the two forces that can be characterized by the temporal phase angle between WSS and CS (stress phase angle -- SPA).;In this thesis a hemodynamic simulator was developed to study the effects of SPA as well as non-reversing and reversing oscillatory WSS as characterized by the oscillatory shear index (OSI) on endothelial cells (BAECs). (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).