Biomechanical regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell functions: from in vitro to in vivo understanding

Abstract

Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) have critical functions in vascular diseases. Haemodynamic factors are important regulators of VSMC functions in vascular pathophysiology. VSMCs are physiologically active in the threedimensional matrix and interact with the shear stress sensor of endothelial cells (ECs). The purpose of this review is to illustrate how haemodynamic factors regulate VSMC functions under two-dimensional conditions in vitro or three-dimensional co-culture conditions in vivo. Recent advances show that high shear stress induces VSMC apoptosis through endothelial-released nitric oxide and low shear stress upregulates VSMC proliferation and migration through platelet-derived growth factor released by ECs. This differential regulation emphasizes the need to construct more actual environments for future research on vascular diseases (such as atherosclerosis and hypertension) and cardiovascular tissue engineering.

Suppressive effect of formononetin on platelet-derived growth factor-BB-stimulated proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells

“…Thus VSMCs are involved in the physiological and pathological processes in the vascular wall (18,19). For example, following vascular injury various cytokines, including PDGF-BB, are released by endothelial cells and macrophages.…”

Mechanics of Vascular Smooth Muscle

“…Cells themselves may be called "ultrasmart" materials in that they have an expansive toolkit of cell signaling systems that can respond immediately to applied stretches and chemical stimuli by changing their mechanical properties (15,181,185,226,509). Smooth muscles are especially adept at such adaptive activity (16,22,130,366) and seem to represent a moving mechanical target because the material properties of smooth muscles often change temporally as contraction proceeds (334), an issue noted quite some time ago (400), and presumably triggered by mechanical loads sensed within the cells and time-dependent phenomenon involving cell signaling. Arterial smooth muscle of rabbit (372,374,381) and mouse (unpublished observations) even display a reversible stimulus history-dependence (arterial memory) that dramatically affects subsequent tonic CC maintenance for some time.…”

Multifunctional biomaterial coatings: synthetic challenges and biological activity

“…Whereas orthopedic and dental implants primarily request protein and bacteria repulsion, vascular implants demand in addition the reduction of pathologic smooth muscle cell proliferation and growth, which can lead to vascular stenosis, hypertension or atherosclerosis (Amann et al, 1995;Qiu et al, 2014). Furthermore, analytical studies of cell-ECM or cellbiomaterial interactions can only be well interpreted if unspecific cell or protein intervention can be excluded.…”