Gene expression of cultured HUVECs submitted to different shear stress in the presence or absence of stent procedure

Many studies have characterized the results of shear stress changes on cultured endothelial cells in different bioreactor systems. However it is still unclear how an invasive intervention like stent procedure may influence the transcriptional response of endothelium. To study the simultaneous effects of shear stress changes and stent application on endothelial gene expression, we have used an experimental apparatus of laminar flow bioreactor (LFB) system with human cultured endothelial cells exposed or not exposed to stent procedure with different flow conditions. Microarray analysis was evaluated in each experimental protocol. HUVECs (2nd and 5th passage) covered on Thermanox slides were submitted to static, low and physiological (0, 1, 5 and 10 dyne/cm2) shear stress in absence (AS) or presence (PS) of stent in LFB system for 24h. Affymetryx analysis has been performed in duplicate by Consortium for Genomic Technologies (Cogentech; Milan, Italy)