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Synergistic Impact of Nicotine and Shear Stress Induces Cytoskeleton Collapse and Apoptosis in Endothelial Cells

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Abstract

Nicotine is the major component in cigarette smoke and has been recognized as a risk factor for various cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis. However, the definite pathogenesis of nicotine-mediated endothelial dysfunction remains unclear because hemodynamic factor in most of prior in vitro studies was excluded. To understand how nicotine affects endothelium in the dynamic environment, human umbilical vein endothelial cells were treated by different laminar shear stresses (LSS; 0, 6, 8, and 12 dynes cm−2) with and without 10−4 M nicotine for 12 h in a parallel plate flow system, following detections of cellular morphology and apoptotic level. Our results showed that cells sheared by 12 dynes cm−2 LSS with nicotine excessively elongated and aligned with the flow direction, and exhibited significant apoptosis as compared to the groups with nicotine or LSS alone. We reasoned that the irregular morphological rearrangement and elevated apoptosis were resulted from the interruption of mechanostasis due to cytoskeletal collapse. Furthermore, all the impaired responses can be rescued by treatment with free radical scavenger ascorbic acid (10−4 M), indicating oxidative stress was likely mediated with the impairments. In summary, our findings demonstrated an essential role of LSS in nicotine-mediated endothelial injury occurring in the physiological environment.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by National Science Council of Taiwan, R.O.C. NSC 101-2221-E-008-018 (Y.-H. Lee).

Conflict of interest

None of the author in this paper has declared any conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Central University, Taoyuan County, Taiwan, ROC

    Yu-Hsiang Lee & Ruei-Siang Chen

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

    Nen-Chung Chang & Feng-Ming Ho

  3. R&D Center for Membrane Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan County, Taiwan, ROC

    Kueir-Rarn Lee & Feng-Ming Ho

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, Tao-Yuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, 1492 Chung Shan Rd., Taoyuan County, 33004, Taiwan, ROC

    Chien-Tsai Huang & Feng-Ming Ho

  5. Department of Neurology, Tao-Yuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taoyuan County, Taiwan, ROC

    Yu-Ching Huang

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  1. Yu-Hsiang Lee
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Associate Editor Sriram Neelamegham oversaw the review of this article.

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Lee, YH., Chen, RS., Chang, NC. et al. Synergistic Impact of Nicotine and Shear Stress Induces Cytoskeleton Collapse and Apoptosis in Endothelial Cells. Ann Biomed Eng 43, 2220–2230 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-014-1244-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-014-1244-9

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