B213 有限要素法による流れ負荷内皮細胞の力学的解析

概要

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In this paper, intracellular stress distributions in cultured endothelial cells exposed to fluid shear stress were studied using coupled field finite element analysis, in which cell surface geometries are measured by an atomic force microscope (AFM). After application of 6 h exposure to shear stress of 2 Pa, the endothelial cells showed marked elongation and orientation in the flow direction. A three-dimensional finite element model was generated on the basis of the cell surface geometry measured by the AFM. A fluid flow-structural analysis indicated that the endothelial cells may change their shape and cytoskeletal structures to increase their stiffness and decrease the intracellular stress concentration. In a separate study, a fluorescent image observed by a laser scanning microscopy revealed that the stress fibers of F-actin bundles were mainly formed in the central portions of the cells. These results suggest that the stress distributions in the cells have close correlation with the F-actin distributions.
2000-07-25