Roles of mechanical blood forces in vascular diseases. A clinical overview

Under the influence of heart and elasticity of arteries, circulating blood constantly acts upon the layers of the vessels, covered by active endothelial cells. The shear stress appears like the most efficient mechanical factor developing a rubbing physical force, the laminar flow. But pulsating and centrifugal forces allow shear to be often unsteady. Mechanobiology investigates receptors and transduction across wall cells, showing that thousands of genes are activated in the endothelium leading to a lot of adaptable functions. Atherosclerosis is due to disturbances of laminar flow in specific areas where low shear allows white cells to adhere and migrate, permeability to increase. Coronaropathies, cerebral vascular accidents, aneurisms are so geometrically local diseases, of which lesions are subsequently enhanced by risk factors. Chronic venous insufficiency is also related to physical forces: hydrostatic and centrifugal pressures, and disruption of shear stress along the wall and around valvulae. Here also similar cells and biochemical phenomenons are the cause of wall remodelling and varicose. At the level of microcirculation the shear stress fall induces hypoxia, accumulation of white cells and hemorheological disorders in microvenulae. This leads to lesions of tissue, small vessel and ulcers. Numerous treatments in vascular diseases tend to restore flow and blood shearing. However a better understanding in the future should open new therapeutic fields and genetic approaches.