The effect of simvastatin treatment on endothelial cell response to shear stress and tumor necrosis factor alpha stimulation.

Background: Statin drugs are one of the most commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals by physicians. By blocking the rate-limiting step in the cholesterol biosynthesis pathway, statins inhibit cholesterol synthesis, which benefits patient health. However, since many other important cellular processes are regulated within this pathway, they may also be influenced by statin therapy.

Statin therapy influences endothelial cell morphology and F-actin cytoskeleton structure when exposed to static and laminar shear stress conditions.

Aims: To determine how statin drugs (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors) affect endothelial cell (EC) shape and F-actin cytoskeleton arrangement in the presence of physiologically relevant wall shear stress (WSS) of 12.5dyn/cm(2).

Main Methods: Human abdominal aortic endothelial cells (HAAECs) were cultured to a confluent monolayer within three dimensional tissue culture models and presheared for 6h at 12.