Heparan Sulfate Regrowth Profiles Under Laminar Shear Flow Following Enzymatic Degradation

Associate Editor Frank C.-P. Yin oversaw the review of this article. Abstract—The local hemodynamic shear stress waveforms present in an artery dictate the endothelial cell phenotype. The observed decrease of the apical glycocalyx layer on the endothelium in atheroprone regions of the circulation sug-gests that the glycocalyx may have a central role in determining atherosclerotic plaque formation. However, the kinetics for the cells ’ ability to adapt its glycocalyx to the environment have not been quantitatively resolved. Here we report that the heparan sulfate component of the glycocalyx of HUVECs increases by 1.4-fold following the onset of high shear stress, compared to static cultured cells, with a time constant of 19 h. Cell morphology experiments show that 12 h are required for the cells to elongate, but only after 36 h have the cells reached maximal alignment to the flow vector