Figure 5.

Mechanotransduction cascade in pulmonary vascular endothelium with stop of flow following the framework outlined in Figure 1. Mechanotransduction by endothelial cells occurs via the mechanosome complex comprising of caveolae-PECAM, VEGFR2 and VE-cadherin resulting in deactivation of KATP channel. This alteration in membrane potential results in activation of NOX2 and eNOS with consequent production of ROS and NO. These mediators result in vasodilation and revascularization probably as a signal to restore the stopped flow (originally published in Chatterjee and Fisher, 2014b, no permission required).