Normal force exerted on vascular endothelial cells.

Hemodynamic forces play an important role in the normal and pathological behavior of vascular endothelial cells as recent studies on the shear stress over the endothelium have shown. Based on computational investigation and scaling analysis, our study shows that the normal force contributes significantly to the total force on the endothelial cells even in large vessels. Therefore, our study suggests that the functions of endothelial cells are also affected by the normal forces exerted on them. The effects of the normal force are more pronounced for smaller vessels and/or less spread cells.