Open Access

REVIEW

The roles of focal adhesion and cytoskeleton systems in fluid shear stress-induced endothelial cell response

KHAWAR ALI SHAHZAD^1,2,#, ZHONGJIE QIN^3,4,#, YAN LI^1,2,*, DELIN XIA^3,4,*

1 School of Pharmacy, Taizhou Polytechnic College, Taizhou, 225300, China
2 Bone Tissue Engineering Research Center of Taizhou, Taizhou, 225300, China
3 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China
4 Orofacial Reconstruction and Regeneration Laboratory, The Affiliated Stomatology Hospital of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, 646000, China

* Address correspondence to: Yan Li, Email: ; Delin Xia, Email:
# These authors contributed equally to this work

BIOCELL 2020, 44(2), 137-145. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2020.08500

Received 31 August 2019; Accepted 25 January 2020; Issue published 27 May 2020

Abstract

Focal adhesions are polyproteins linked to extracellular matrix and cytoskeleton, which play an important role in the process of transforming force signals into intracellular chemical signals and subsequently triggering related physiological or pathological reactions. The cytoskeleton is a network of protein fibers in the cytoplasm, which is composed of microfilaments, microtubules, intermediate filaments, and cross-linked proteins. It is a very important structure for cells to maintain their basic morphology. This review summarizes the process of fluid shear stress transduction mediated by focal adhesion and the key role of the cytoskeleton in this process, which focuses on the focal adhesion and cytoskeleton systems. The important proteins involved in signal transduction in focal adhesion are introduced emphatically. The relationship between focal adhesion and mechanical transduction pathways are discussed. In this review, we discuss the relationship between fluid shear stress and associated diseases such as atherosclerosis, as well as its role in clinical research and drug development.

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