Author(s)

Xiuli Mao^1*, Lixuan Mao², Hong Zhang¹, Yiling Tan¹, Huali Wang¹

¹School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
²School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK.

The pathogenesis of atherosclerosis is accompanied by chronic inflammation with changes in the stiffness of the coronary artery wall. Being the main component of the vascular media, the smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are crucial to maintain blood vessel function. SMCs are mechano-sensitive, which can rapidly adapt to the fluctuations in the microenvironment of the blood vessel, including the subtle changes of the vascular stiffness. However, how substrate stiffness influences the phenotype and inflammatory response of SMCs is not well understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of substrate stiffness on SMCs phenotype, inflammatory gene expression and the nuclear factorkappa B (NFκB) signaling pathway of vascular SMCs. From 1 kPa to 100 kPa, the SMCs cytoskeleton became more and more organized with the increase of the substrate stiffness, representing by the uniformed distribution of the stress fibers. SMCs cultured on both soft (1 kPa) and hard (100 kPa) substrate increased the expression of macrophage marker CD68 molecule (CD68) and Galectin 3 (LGALS3) and the inflammatory gene Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) than those on 40 kPa substrate. Moreover, the protein expression level of phosphorylated nuclear factor kappa B inhibitor (p-IκB) was higher on either soft (1 kPa) or hard (100 kPa) substrate. In consistent, the dephosphorylated IκB showed a higher expression level on the substrate stiffness of 40 kPa. These results suggested that substrate stiffness played an important role in SMCs cell morphology, phenotype and inflammatory response by affecting NFκB signaling pathway.

Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells, Substrate Stiffness, Inflammatory Response, NFκB

Mao, X. , Mao, L. , Zhang, H. , Tan, Y. and Wang, H. (2021) Substrate Stiffness Affected the Inflammatory Response of SMCs. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 9, 44-54. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2021.93006.