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Quantifying Cytoskeletal Morphology in Endothelial Cells to Enable Mechanical Analysis

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Computational Biomechanics for Medicine

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Abstract

Wall shear stress induced remodelling of endothelial cell morphology is a focal cause of atherosclerosis. While the force distribution within endothelial cells has been quantified using computational modelling, no studies have included an image-informed cytoskeleton, nor have any studies examined the effect of population variation of the cytoskeleton. In this paper we quantified the spatial variation of the cytoskeleton and primary cilium in a population of endothelial cells to enable future mechanical analysis.

This was achieved using custom spatial descriptors for the microtubule and actin filament networks and the primary cilium. Using these descriptors our quantitative findings are in close agreement with previous findings of actin distribution (occupying a planar layer in the cell <20% of total cell height, at the periphery in the xy plane), and microtubule distribution (median of 38 microtubules per cell, in a tree-like network with branching tubules within 30° of the parent tubule).

Our set of descriptors improve on previous cell spatial descriptors by representing specific cells with sufficient accuracy to enable current modelling approaches. Additionally, the descriptors enable the generation of virtual cells with a cytoskeleton and primary cilium characteristic of the entire population. Thus reducing the computational cost needed to represent the entire population, without significant information loss.

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Acknowledgments

HMEC-1s were kindly provided by Dr. Edwin Ades, Mr. Francisco J. Candal (CDC, Atlanta GA, USA) and Dr. Thomas Lawley (Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA) NCEZID-R147589-00 [35]. The authors would also like to acknowledge Dr. Sue McGlashan, Ms. Hilary Holloway and Ms. Jacqui Ross from the Biomedical Imaging Research Unit, University of Auckland for assistance in microscope training and image acquisition. This work was supported by a University of Auckland Faculty Research Development Fund grant (3702516, D.S.L.). The first author is grateful for financial support from the University of Kassel.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Institute of Mechanics and Dynamics, University of Kassel, Kassel, Germany

    Yi Chung Lim & Detlef Kuhl

  2. Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Michael T. Cooling & David S. Long

  3. Department of Engineering Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    David S. Long

Authors
  1. Yi Chung Lim
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  2. Detlef Kuhl
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  3. Michael T. Cooling
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  4. David S. Long
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yi Chung Lim .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory, School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, West Australia, Australia

    Adam Wittek

  2. Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory, School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, West Australia, Australia

    Grand Joldes

  3. Auckland Bioengineering Institute, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Poul M.F. Nielsen

  4. School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, West Australia, Australia

    Barry J. Doyle

  5. Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory, School of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, West Australia, Australia

    Karol Miller

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Lim, Y.C., Kuhl, D., Cooling, M.T., Long, D.S. (2017). Quantifying Cytoskeletal Morphology in Endothelial Cells to Enable Mechanical Analysis. In: Wittek, A., Joldes, G., Nielsen, P., Doyle, B., Miller, K. (eds) Computational Biomechanics for Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54481-6_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54481-6_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-54480-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-54481-6

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