Hanjoong Jo, PhD, a professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory and Georgia Tech, and his colleagues used a combined engineering and molecular approach to demonstrate how changes in blood flow might contribute to the prevention or development of lipid-containing plaques that can rupture and block blood vessels, leading to heart attack and stroke. The research is published in the on-line edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
The research team of biomedical engineers, cardiologists and surgeons included George P. Sorescu, Michelle Sykes, Daiana Weiss, Manu O. Platt, Aniket Saha, Jinah Hwang, Nolan Boyd, Yong C. Boo, J. David Vega and W. Robert Taylor.
Bioengineers believe that areas of the vascular system with curves, forks, and less direct flow are more likely to develop atherosclerotic plaques than are vascular areas with straight and unobstructed blood flow. Dr. Jo hypothesized that endothelial cells (the cells that line blood vessels) have a biological response to alterations in their mechanical environment. He designed a mechanical system using a test fluid to model the patterns made by blood as it flows through the body's vessels, and then exposed the fluid to mouse aortic endothelial cells. Using microarray (gene chip) technology, he screened 12,000 genes found in the endothelial cells, comparing tissue exposed to a straight and streamlined flow of blood (laminar shear) to tissue exposed to abnormal, non-linear flow patterns (oscillatory shear stress). In the cells exposed to oscillatory shear stress, he discovered a marked increase in expression of the ge
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Contact: Holly Korschun
hkorsch@emory.edu
404-727-3990
Emory University Health Sciences Center
27-May-2003