Acute mental tress-induced modulation of aortic endothelial cells in mice

Mental stress is a substantial contributor to human disease initiation and progression, including cardiovascular pathologies. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. Here, we show in mice that acute mental stress enhances influx of leukocytes into atherosclerotic plaques through modulation of endothelial cells. Specifically, acute stress increases adhesion molecule expression and chemokines release through locally derived norepinephrine. Here, we tested whether acute mental stress activates endothelial cells and consequently promotes influx of leukocytes in mice. We applied acute mental stress to ApoE mice for each 3 h on 3 consecutive days and excised aortae afterwards. To get a broader understanding which phenotypic changes endothelial cells undergo in response to acute stress, we FACS (fluorescence-activated cell sorting) isolated aortic endothelial cells from stressed vs. non-stressed mice and subjected them to RNA sequencing.