The role of FAK in the shear stress-induced cytoskeletal rearrangement and differentiation in late EPCs.

<p>(A) Western blot was carried out with specific antibody for checking the phosphorylated FAK. The total FAK served as loading control. (B) Late EPCs were pretreated with PF-573,228 (2 µmol/l) for 1 h. The cells were then either exposed to shear stress (12 dyne/cm²) for 60 min, or cultured in static condition. After this, F-actin was stained with FITC-Phalloidin. Bars: 100 µm. (C) Stress fibers were quantitated and normalized to the shear stress treated-EPCs. (D) Late EPCs were pretreated with PF-573,228 (2 µmol/l) for 1 h, and were then either exposed to shear stress (12 dyne/cm²) for 3 h, or cultured in static condition. The gene expression of vWF and CD31 was determined by real time RT-PCR. (E) Late EPCs were pretreated with PF-573,228 (2 µmol/l) for 1 h, and the cells were then either exposed to shear stress (12 dyne/cm²) for 24 h, or cultured in static condition for the same duration. The protein levels of vWF and CD31 were determined by FACS. The results represent the mean±SE from three independent experiments. **(P<0.01) and *(P<0.05).