Figure 6.

Pro- or anti- atherogenic effect of flow patterns through different redox signalings and genes expression. A regular flow pattern (steady or pulsatile) produces lower levels of ROS and pro-oxidant activity, yet higher NO bioavailability and anti-oxidant activity, that result in an anti-oxidative state, favoring the activation/regulation of key transcription factors such as Nrf2, KLF2 to promote anti-atherogenic environment by enhancing the expression of SOD, HO-1, etc. On the other hand, an irregular flow pattern (disturbed or oscillatory) produces higher levels of ROS and pro-oxidant activity, yet lower NO bioavailability and anti-oxidant activity, that result in an oxidative state, favoring the activation/regulation of key transcription factors such as AP-1, NF-κB for pro-atherogenic environment by enhancing the expression of MCP-1, ICAM-1, etc. ++: relatively higher; +: relatively lower.