Multi-directional flow chamber: Analysis of endothelial cell morphology dependence on differential shear forces. 2nd joint conference of the IEEE engineering in medicine and biology society and the biomedical engineering society

A novel multi-directional flow chamber (MDFC) has been developed as an in vitro tool for testing endothelial cell (EC) responses to complex multi-directional flow patterns. It was developed to model fluid mechanical conditions associated with atherosclerotic prone sites. Experimental studies demonstrated that with multi-directional flow (shear stress vector produced by an axial and a rotational component) caused greater morphologic variability than unidirectional flow studies (shear stress vector produced solely by an axial component). For example, the SI_N for a multi-directional flow study at a position within the MDFC, where the rotational and axial shear stress vectors are parallel and additive, showed significant more cell elongation (SI_N = 0.83 ± 0.17) than at the 'bottom' position, where the vectors were in opposite directions (SI_N = 0.95 ± 0.23). The equivalent results in a unidirectional study showed no significant difference at these positions. Therefore, ECs within a single monolayer can respond differentially when exposed to regions with a variable force distribution.