PMC

Disturbed flow induces EC dysfunction via p53 and ERK5 SUMOylation. Disturbed flow down-regulates SENP2 activity, which then cause EC apoptosis via p53 SUMOylation and subsequent p53-Bcl2 binding. On the other hand, steady laminar flow, through activation of ERK5, increases activity of MEF2/KLF2/eNOS, which are responsible for inducting anti-inflammatory responses. Disturbed flow-induced down-regulation of SENP2 triggers ERK5 SUMOylation and inhibits its transcriptional activity. S-flow, steady laminar flow; D-flow, disturbed flow; SUMO, small ubiquitin-like modifier.

En Face immunohistochemistry. The greater curvature of the aortic arch indicated by the blue circle is exposed to steady laminar flow and is protected from atherosclerosis. Regions of curvature indicated by the red circle and side branches indicated by numbers (1, 2, and 3) are exposed to disturbed flow and are athero-prone areas. The aorta was prepared from a 7 weeks old C57BL/6 wild type mouse. En face endothelial cells stained by anti-VE-cadherin show the general cell morphology in the steady laminar flow (blue square) and disturbed flow (red square) areas. Scale bars, 20 μm.