Angular difference in human coronary artery governs endothelial cell structure and function

Abstract

Blood vessel branch points exhibiting oscillatory/turbulent flow and lower wall shear stress (WSS) are the primary sites of atherosclerosis development. Vascular endothelial functions are essentially dependent on these tangible biomechanical forces including WSS. Herein, we explored the influence of blood vessel bifurcation angles on hemodynamic alterations and associated changes in endothelial function. We generated computer-aided design of a branched human coronary artery followed by 3D printing such designs with different bifurcation angles. Through computational fluid dynamics analysis, we observed that a larger branching angle generated more complex turbulent/oscillatory hemodynamics to impart minimum WSS at branching points. Through the detection of biochemical markers, we recorded significant alteration in eNOS, ICAM1, and monocyte attachment in EC grown in microchannel having 60o vessel branching angle which correlated with the lower WSS. The present study highlights the importance of blood vessel branching angle as one of the crucial determining factors in governing atherogenic-endothelial dysfunction.