Fig. 1.

Involvement of microtubule (MT) in cyclic stretch (CS)-mediated endothelial cell (EC) remodeling. Pulmonary EC grown to confluence on Flexcell plates were exposed to 18% CS or left under static conditions. At 2 h, cells were stimulated with nocodazole (0.5 μM, 30 min) with or without taxol pretreatment (2 μM, 30 min). A: double immunofluorescence staining was performed with Texas red phalloidin to detect actin filaments and with β-catenin antibodies to visualize adherens junctions. Paracellular gaps are marked by arrows. B: quantitative analysis of gap formation on static and stretched human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAEC). Data are expressed as means ± SD of 5 independent experiments; *P < 0.05.