PUBLICATION

Anisotropic shear stress patterns predict the orientation of convergent tissue movements in the embryonic heart

Authors
Boselli, F., Steed, E., Freund, J.B., Vermot, J.
ID
ZDB-PUB-171204-18
Date
2017
Source
Development (Cambridge, England)   144: 4322-4327 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Boselli, Francesco, Steed, Emily, Vermot, Julien
Keywords
Danio rerio, Fluid mechanics, Live imaging, Low Reynolds number, Morphogenesis, Photoconversion, Red blood cells
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Anisotropy
  • Biomechanical Phenomena
  • Endocardial Cushions/cytology
  • Endocardial Cushions/embryology
  • Endothelial Cells/cytology
  • Endothelial Cells/physiology
  • Erythrocytes/physiology
  • Heart/embryology*
  • Hemodynamics
  • Hydrodynamics
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional
  • Models, Cardiovascular*
  • Organogenesis/physiology
  • Shear Strength
  • Stress, Mechanical
  • Zebrafish/embryology*
PubMed
29183943 Full text @ Development
Abstract
Myocardial contractility and blood flow provide essential mechanical cues for the morphogenesis of the heart. In general, endothelial cells change their migratory behavior in response to shear stress patterns, according to flow directionality. Here, we assessed the impact of shear stress patterns and flow directionality on the behavior of endocardial cells, the specialized endothelial cells of the heart. At the early stages of zebrafish heart valve formation, we show that endocardial cells are converging to the valve-forming area and that this behavior depends upon mechanical forces. Quantitative live imaging and mathematical modeling allow us to correlate this tissue convergence with the underlying flow forces. We predict that tissue convergence is associated with the direction of the mean wall shear stress and of the gradient of harmonic phase-averaged shear stresses, which surprisingly do not match the overall direction of the flow. This contrasts with the usual role of flow directionality in vascular development and suggests that the full spatial and temporal complexity of the wall shear stress should be taken into account when studying endothelial cell responses to flow in vivo.
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