RESEARCH ARTICLE


Effects of Cyclic Strain and Growth Factors on Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Responses



Soujanya Kona, 1, Prithiviraj Chellamuthu, 2, Hao Xu1, Seth R Hills2, Kytai Truong Nguyen*, 1, 2
1 Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Arlington and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, USA
2 Department of Biological and Irrigation Engineering, Utah State University, USA


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Creative Commons License
© Kona et al.; Licensee Bentham Open.

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Bioengineering, University of Texas at Arlington, 501 West First Street, ELB 220, Arlington, TX 76019, USA; Tel: 817-272-2540; Fax: 817-272-2251; E-mail: knguyen@uta.edu
Both Authors Contributed Equally.


Abstract

Under physiological and pathological conditions, vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) are exposed to different biochemical factors and biomechanical forces. Previous studies pertaining to SMC responses have not investigated the effects of both factors on SMCs. Thus, in our research we investigated the combined effects of growth factors like Bfgf (basic fibroblast growth factor), TGF-β (transforming growth factor β) and PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor) along with physiological cyclic strain on SMC responses. Physiological cyclic strain (10% strain) significantly reduced SMC proliferation compared to static controls while addition of growth factors bFGF, TGF-β or PDGF-AB had a positive influence on SMC growth compared to strain alone. Microarray analysis of SMCs exposed to these growth factors and cyclic strain showed that several bioactive genes (vascular endothelial growth factor, epidermal growth factor receptor, etc.) were altered upon exposure. Further work involving biochemical and pathological cyclic strain stimulation will help us better understand the role of cyclic strain and growth factors in vascular functions and development of vascular disorders.

Keywords: Cyclic Strain, Growth Factors, Proliferation, Gene Regulation, Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells..