Figure 7. The role of FAK in the shear stress-induced cytoskeletal rearrangement and differentiation in late EPCs.

(A) Western blot was carried out with specific antibody for checking the phosphorylated FAK. The total FAK served as loading control. (B) Late EPCs were pretreated with PF-573,228 (2 µmol/l) for 1 h. The cells were then either exposed to shear stress (12 dyne/cm²) for 60 min, or cultured in static condition. After this, F-actin was stained with FITC-Phalloidin. Bars: 100 µm. (C) Stress fibers were quantitated and normalized to the shear stress treated-EPCs. (D) Late EPCs were pretreated with PF-573,228 (2 µmol/l) for 1 h, and were then either exposed to shear stress (12 dyne/cm²) for 3 h, or cultured in static condition. The gene expression of vWF and CD31 was determined by real time RT-PCR. (E) Late EPCs were pretreated with PF-573,228 (2 µmol/l) for 1 h, and the cells were then either exposed to shear stress (12 dyne/cm²) for 24 h, or cultured in static condition for the same duration. The protein levels of vWF and CD31 were determined by FACS. The results represent the mean±SE from three independent experiments. **(P<0.01) and *(P<0.05).