This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Poelmann, R. E. Articles by Hierck, B. P. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Poelmann, R. E. Articles by Hierck, B. P. Related Collections Calcium cycling/excitation-contraction coupling Cell biology/structural biology Developmental biology Functional genomics Ion channels/membrane transport Cardiac development Mechanism of atherosclerosis/growth factors

(Circulation. 2008;117:1124-1126.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

Deciphering the Endothelial Shear Stress Sensor

Robert E. Poelmann, PhD; Kim Van der Heiden, MSc; Adriana Gittenberger-de Groot, PhD; Beerend P. Hierck, PhD

From the Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.

Correspondence to Professor Dr Robert E. Poelmann, Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Leiden University Medical Center, Postzone S-1-P, PO Box 9600, 2300 RC, Leiden, The Netherlands. E-mail R.E.Poelmann@LUMC.nl

Key Words: Editorials • atherosclerosis • blood flow • dynamics • endothelium • hemodynamics

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

The single nonmotile primary cilium, protruding several microns from the apical surface, contains cytoskeletal elements in a specific fashion. It consists of 9 circularly arranged microtubule doublets, as revealed by transmission electron microscopy,¹ but lacks the central ones characteristic for motile cilia and flagellae. The primary cilium is anchored to the basal body and is thereby connected to the cytoskeletal apparatus. Sorokin¹ concluded that primary cilia were probably vestigial remnants of motile cilia. We now know that ciliary functions are abundant. Examples include processes involving Hedgehog and Wnt signaling² and determining left–right asymmetry.³ Cilia functioning as sensory antennas in insect ears and the human retina are well established.⁴ Because of the widespread presence of primary cilia, it does not come as a surprise that many diseases, often syndromic, are caused by ciliary dysfunction. Several diseases are related to disruption of intraflagellar transport in the case of mutation in, for example, Polaris, Kif3a or various Bbs proteins that can lead to such conditions as obesity and Bardet Biedl Syndrome.⁵ Other cilium-related proteins involve cell membrane–bound calcium channels such as the complex formed by polycystin-1 and -2, encoded from Pkd1 and Pkd2, respectively. Mutations cause polycystic kidney diseases.^6,7

Article p 1161

Primary cilia were first described in the cardiovascular system in human embryos and adults more than 20 years ago.⁸ The geometry of the heart and vascular tree strongly influences hemodynamics with repercussions on the pattern of ciliation. Endothelial ciliation is restricted to areas of low and oscillatory blood flow and . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. Poelma, K. Van der Heiden, B. P. Hierck, R. E. Poelmann, and J. Westerweel Measurements of the wall shear stress distribution in the outflow tract of an embryonic chicken heart J R Soc Interface, January 6, 2010; 7(42): 91 - 103. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. K. Curtiss and P. S. Tobias Emerging role of Toll-like receptors in atherosclerosis J. Lipid Res., April 1, 2009; 50(Supplement): S340 - S345. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]