Figure 1

Laminar shear stress promotes tight junction formation. Panel A: Comparison of the level of TJ and adherens junction RNA in EC grown under dynamic (flow) versus static condition. The tightness of the vascular endothelial bed developed under flow culture condition was much more stringent than that grown under in the absence of luminal flow. This was demonstrated by the TEER (Panel B) and permeability measurement to known substances (Panel C). Note also that the BBB established under flow was capable of discriminating the passage of substances accordingly to their permeability order more efficiently that the BBB established under static condition (Panel D). Gene array findings were also supported by comparative analysis of TJ and adherens junction proteins identified and quantified (comparative analysis of the expression levels) on 2D gels of protein extracted from EC membrane sub-cellular fractions (flow and no-flow conditions; Panel E). Note that "*" refers to a statistically significant changes in BBB tightness and EC junctional genes expression caused by the exposure to flow (n = 4; p < 0.05).