Abstract

The endothelium plays a central role in regulating vascular homeostasis and is key in determining the response to materials implanted in the vascular system. Endothelial cells are uniquely sensitive to biophysical cues from applied forces and their local cellular microenvironment. The glycocalyx is a layer of proteoglycans, glycoproteins and glycosaminoglycans that lines the luminal surface of the vascular endothelium, interacting directly with the components of the blood and the forces of blood flow. In this work, we examined the changes in mechanical tension of syndecan-1, a cell surface proteoglycan that is an integral part of the glycocalyx, in response to substrate stiffness and fluidic shear stress. Our studies demonstrate that syndecan-1 is mechanically responsive to extracellular mechanical cues and alters its association with cytoskeletal and adhesion-related proteins in response to substrate stiffness and physiological flow.