Figure 7.

Comparison of endothelial cells cultured in open-well and fluidic configurations of the m-μSiM. First, cells were seeded and maintained in open-well format for 24 hours to establish a confluent monolayer in m-μSiM devices. Then, one of the devices was reconfigured into the fluidic mode to induce shear alignment. (A) Cells cultured under dynamic conditions showed alignment along the flow direction due to continuous exposure to 10.7 dynes.cm⁻² shear stress at a flow rate of 580 μL.min^-1. The inset shows actin and nuclei of aligned cells in green and blue, respectively. Scale bar = 100 µm. (B) Cells cultured under static culture showed no alignment. Radar plots quantify cell alignment with respect to the flow direction (x-axis). The length of each bar represents the number of cells in the corresponding direction. Scale bar = 100 µm. (C) Comparison of the relative expression of KLF2 and eNOS between cells cultured under flow and cells cultured in open-well m-μSiM under static condition (**p < 0.01, n=3).