Design and construction of a hemodynamic simulator for studying vascular endothelial responses to hemodynamic forces

Coronary atherosclerosis has long been recognized with high morbidity and mortality worldwide. The main cause of this group of diseases is thrombosis, resulting in insufficient oxygen perfusion by the blood to various organs in the body, thereby causing tissue necrosis. Dysfunction of vascular endothelial cell (ECs) is the major cause of atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Hemodynamic abnormalities are one of the many factors causing endothelial dysfunction. Shear stress and cyclic stretch are two major hemodynamic forces generated by pulsatile blood flow and pressure in the arterial vasculature. When hemodynamic abnormalities occur, endothelial dysfunction follows, this ultimately leads to atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Our objective, therefore, was to design and construct an unique hemodynamic equipment described herein. This hemodynamic device can concurrently produce shear stress and cyclic stretch to vascular ECs in vitro, and thus their morphological changes in response to simultaneous exposure to shear stress and cyclic stretch can be visualized in real-time via microscopy.