Shear Stress Modulates Gene Expression in Normal Human Dermal Fibroblasts
Abstract
Applied mechanical forces, such as those resulting from fluid flow, trigger cells to change their functional behavior or phenotype. However, there is little known about how fluid flow affects fibroblasts. The hypothesis of this thesis is that dermal fibroblasts undergo significant changes of expression of differentiation genes after exposure to fluid flow (or shear stress). To test the hypothesis, human dermal fibroblasts were exposed to laminar steady fluid flow for 20 and 40 hours and RNA was collected for microarray analysis. Gene expression data was processed using gene network analysis, pathway analysis, and gene functional analysis with comparison to data from publicly available data sets. Additional treatment with PI3K/mTOR pathway inhibitor, PI-103, was performed to evaluate pathway involvement in flow modulation of gene expression. Results from overall transcription analysis demonstrated that fluid flow modulated many genes in fibroblasts including those related to differentiation, development and TGF-β pathway regulation.
Description
Keywords
Engineering--Biomedical
Citation
Zabinyakov, N. (2017). Shear Stress Modulates Gene Expression in Normal Human Dermal Fibroblasts (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/27775