Abstract
Vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are suggested to make functional changes under shear stress (SS) stimulation through intercellular communication with endothelial cells (ECs). In the present study, we constructed an EC-SMC co-culture model with phenotype-controlled SMCs, which is similar to normal healthy arterial walls, and then explored relationship between EC gene (TGF-β1) expression and SMC phenotype change under SS conditions. The result shows that the expression of contractile proteins in SMCs were at same level under 0.2, 2,6 or 10 Pa when TGF-β1 expression from EC was knocked down by SiRNA. In our previous experiment, we have reported that a low SS (0.2 Pa) or a high SS (10 Pa) could suppress the expression of contractile proteins in SMCs in a co-cultured model, therefore the present result suggests that TGF-β1 expression from EC could influence SMC response to SS.
