Flow-Mediated Modulation of the Endothelial Cell Lipidome

The luminal surface of the endothelium is exposed to dynamic blood flow patterns that are known to affect endothelial cell phenotype. In this study, human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) were exposed to unidirectional laminar flow (20 dynes/cm2) or disturbed flow (±4 dynes/cm2, 2 Hz) for 48 hrs and then subjected to RNA sequencing. The sequencing data was used to analyze changes in endothelial cell gene expression and pathways associated with lipid metabolism. To investigate the effect of different flow patterns on endothelial cell lipidome, primary human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) were seeded in ibidi µ-Slide 0.2 (ibidi #80166) or 0.6 (ibidi #80186) Luer ibiTreat. Unidirectional laminar flow (20 dynes/cm2) or disturbed flow (±4 dynes/cm2, 2 Hz) was applied to confluent monolayers using the ibidi pump system (ibidi #10902) for 48 hrs. We then performed gene expression profiling analysis using data obtained from RNA sequencing of three replicates per treatment condition. Comparative gene expression profiling analysis of RNA-seq data for UF-exposed HAECs and DF-exposed HAECs.