Stress fiber strain is zero in normal aortic smooth muscle, elevated in hypertensive stretch, and minimal in wall thickening rats.

Hypertension causes aortic wall thickening until the original wall stress is restored. We hypothesized that this regulation involves stress fiber (SF) tension transmission to the nucleus in smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and investigated the strain in the SF direction as a condition required for this transmission. Thoracic aortas from Wistar Kyoto (WKY) and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) were examined.