Arteries respond to independent control of circumferential and shear stress in organ culture.

Arteries respond to changes in global mechanical parameters (pressure, flow rate, and longitudinal stretching) by remodeling to restore local parameters (circumferential stress, shear stress, and axial strain) to baseline levels. Because a change in a single global parameter results in changes of multiple local parameters, the effects of individual local parameters on remodeling remain unknown. This study uses a novel approach to study remodeling in organ culture based on independent control of local mechanical parameters. The approach is illustrated by studying the short term effects of circumferential and shear stress on remodeling-related biological markers. Porcine carotid arteries were cultured for 3 days at a circumferential stress of 50 or 150 kPa or, in separate experiments, a shear stress of 0.75 or 2.25 Pa. At high circumferential stress, matrix synthesis, smooth muscle cell proliferation, and cell death are significantly greater, but matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and pro-MMP-2 activity are significantly less. In contrast, biological markers measured were unaffected by shear stress. Applications of the proposed approach for improved understanding of remodeling, optimizing mechanical conditioning of tissue engineered arteries, and selection of experimentally motivated growth laws are discussed.