Artery Research

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Volume 3, Issue 2, June 2009, Pages 73 - 78

Wall shear stress revisited

Authors
Robert S. Renemana, *, Hans Vinka, Arnold P.G. Hoeksb
aDepartment of Physiology, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
bDepartment of Biophysics, Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 43 388 1198; fax: +31 43 388 4166. E-mail address: reneman@fys.unimaas.nl (R.S. Reneman).
Corresponding Author
Robert S. Reneman
Received 14 January 2009, Revised 18 February 2009, Accepted 19 February 2009, Available Online 3 March 2009.
DOI
10.1016/j.artres.2009.02.005How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Wall shear stress; Wall shear rate; Velocity profiles; Non-invasive vascular ultrasound; Glycocalyx; Design arterial system
Abstract

In vivo measurements of wall shear stress (WSS), a determinant of endothelial cell function and gene expression, have shown that theoretical assumptions regarding WSS in the arterial system and its calculation are invalid. In humans mean WSS varies along the arterial tree and is higher in the carotid artery (1.1–1.3 Pa; 1 Pa = 10 dyn cm−2) than in the brachial (0.4–0.5 Pa) and femoral (0.3–0.5 Pa) arteries. Also in animals mean WSS is not constant along the arterial tree. In arterioles mean WSS varies between 2.0 and 10.0 Pa and is dependent on the site of measurement. In both arteries and arterioles, velocity profiles are flattened rather than fully developed parabolas. Across species mean WSS in a particular artery decreases linearly with increasing body mass, in the infra-renal aorta from 8.8 Pa in mice to 0.5 Pa in humans. The observation that mean WSS is far from constant along the arterial tree indicates that Murray’s cube law on flow-diameter relations cannot be applied to the whole arterial system. The exponent of the power law varies from 2 in large arteries to 3 in arterioles. The in vivo findings imply that in in vitro investigations an average calculated shear stress value cannot be used to study effects on endothelial cells derived from different vascular areas or from the same artery in different species. Sensing and transduction of shear stress are in part mediated by the endothelial glycocalyx. Therefore, modulation of shear stress sensing and transduction by altered glycocalyx properties should be considered.

Copyright
© 2009 Association for Research into Arterial Structure and Physiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license.

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<Previous Article In Issue
Next Article In Issue>
Journal
Artery Research
Volume-Issue
3 - 2
Pages
73 - 78
Publication Date
2009/03/03
ISSN (Online)
1876-4401
ISSN (Print)
1872-9312
DOI
10.1016/j.artres.2009.02.005How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2009 Association for Research into Arterial Structure and Physiology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - JOUR
AU  - Robert S. Reneman
AU  - Hans Vink
AU  - Arnold P.G. Hoeks
PY  - 2009
DA  - 2009/03/03
TI  - Wall shear stress revisited
JO  - Artery Research
SP  - 73
EP  - 78
VL  - 3
IS  - 2
SN  - 1876-4401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artres.2009.02.005
DO  - 10.1016/j.artres.2009.02.005
ID  - Reneman2009
ER  -