Fig. 6.
Proposed mechanism for zinc regulation in endothelial cells. A: under static culture conditions, zinc (black circles) is primarily bound to MT and effluxed out of the cell across the cell membrane by ZnT-1. B: under high shear stress, nitric oxide (gray circles) causes zinc release from MT. C: under reversing shear stress or low shear stress, there is increased expression of MT and ZnT-1, resulting in increased bound zinc and zinc efflux thereby lowering the levels of free zinc.