Figure 5.
Different length scales over which stresses and deformations act to stimulate growth and remodeling in developing arteries. Circumferential (σθ), axial (σz) and shear (τ) stresses depend on the blood pressure, axial tethering forces, and blood flow, respectively, as well as on the arterial wall geometry (Eqns. 1 – 3). These stresses act on the artery as a whole (A), as well as on individual cell and ECM fibers (B). Whole cell and ECM deformations cause local deformations in individual ECM fibers and the cell membrane, which are connected to each other through transmembrane proteins, such as integrins. The local deformations trigger signaling cascades due to conformational changes in the transmembrane proteins directly, and through their connections to cytoskeletal proteins that may link all the way to the cell nucleus (C).