Mechanotransmission of haemodynamic forces by the endothelial glycocalyx in a full-scale arterial model

The glycocalyx has been identified as a key mechanosensor of the shear forces exerted by the streaming blood onto the vascular endothelial lining. Although the biochemical reaction to the blood flow has been extensively studied, the mechanism of transmission of the hemodynamic shear forces to the endothelial transmembrane anchoring structures and, consequently, to the subcellular elements in the cytoskeleton, is still not fully understood. Here we apply a multiscale approach to elucidate how hemodynamic shear forces are transmitted to the transmembrane anchors of endothelial cells. Wall shear stress time histories, as obtained from image-based computational hemodynamics models of a carotid bifurcation, are used as a load and a continuum model is applied to obtain the mechanical response of the glycocalyx all along the cardiac cycle. The main findings of this in silico study are that: (1) the forces transmitted to the transmembrane anchors are in the range of 1-10 pN, which is in the ord...