Abstract
Cells are continuously exposed to the mechanical stimulus such as the cyclic stretch due to heart beats. The cells are aligned nearly perpendicular to the direction of the cyclic stretch. Recent reports indicate that the pathological levels of cyclic stretch cause apoptosis. The balance of the mitochondrial fusion and fission influences the state of the cell. Thus the change in the mitochondrial morphology affects cells function and homeostasis. Therefore we investigated the effect of the cyclic stretch on the mitochondrial morphology of the bovine aortic endothelial cell (BAEC). Mitochondria was dyed by 1.0 μM mito-tracker orange (Ex.:554 nm, Em.:576 nm), and cells are subjected to the physiologic levels of the cyclic stretch (5% at 1 Hz) and the pathologic levels of the cyclic stretch (20% at 1 Hz) for two hours. It was observed that the length of mitochondria hardly changed when the physiologic levels of the cyclic stretch was applied while the length of mitochondria gradually shortened when the pathological levels of the cyclic stretch was applied.
