The effects of primary cilia on endothelial gene expression exposed to flow

Biomechanical forces such as wall shear stress induced by flowing blood influence the behavior of vascular cells and have been shown to be crucial in the onset of vascular disease. Primary cilia are increasingly recognized as important biological sensors of low WSS. The goal of the study was to investigate gene expression profile of endothelial cell under low flow (2 dynes/cm2) as compared to physiological flow (30 dynes/cm2) in presence or absence of primary cilia. Overall design: For flow experiments, cells were seeded in Ibidi µ-Slide VI0.4 slides coated with 0.1% gelatin and grown till confluence. Cells were serum starved for 24h prior exposure to flow. Laminar shear stress of 30 or 2 dynes/cm2 was applied for 48h. For each set of flow experiments, control cells were kept under static condition.