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Updated: Oct 21, 2026

Implantation of a Carotid Cuff for Triggering Shear-stress Induced Atherosclerosis in Mice
Published on: January 13, 2012
[Shearing anomalies of the arterial endothelium in essential arterial hypertension]
1Centre de diagnostic, hôpital Broussais, Paris.
Insights
Untreated hypertensive patients exhibit altered brachial artery blood flow dynamics. They show higher blood viscosity and lower wall shear stress and rate, potentially contributing to atherosclerosis.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Physiology
- Biomedical Engineering
- Rheology
Context:
- Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
- Arterial wall shear stress and rate are critical hemodynamic factors influencing vascular health.
- Previous research has primarily focused on small arteries and arterioles.
Purpose:
- To investigate brachial artery wall shear rate and stress in untreated hypertensive patients compared to normotensive controls.
- To characterize blood flow alterations in large arteries of hypertensive individuals.
Summary:
- This study measured brachial artery diameter, blood velocity, and viscosity in 20 hypertensive patients and 11 controls.
- Hypertensive patients demonstrated significantly higher blood viscosity and lower systolic and mean wall shear rate and systolic wall shear stress.
- These findings represent the first description of wall shear abnormalities in the large arteries of hypertensive patients.
Impact:
- Identifies novel hemodynamic alterations in the brachial artery of hypertensive patients.
- Highlights the potential role of reduced wall shear stress and rate in the atherogenic process associated with hypertension.
- Suggests these findings warrant further investigation due to their implications for cardiovascular risk.
Abstract:
Brachial artery wall shear rate and stress were studied in 20 untreated hypertensive patients and 11 normotensive controls of similar age. A pulsed Doppler velocimeter enabled to determine the internal diameter, the mean cross-sectional blood velocity and the systolic centerline blood velocity of the brachial artery. A coaxial cylinder viscosimeter provided blood viscosity at a shear rate of 96 s-1. A Poiseuille model of arterial flow was used for evaluating wall shear rate from the ratio between blood velocity and arterial diameter and wall shear stress from the product between shear rate and blood viscosity. Shear rate and stress were expressed in terms of systolic and mean values by using respectively systolic centerline and mean cross-sectional blood velocities. Comparatively to normal controls, hypertensive patients had higher blood viscosity (4.80 +/- 0.08 vs 4.28 +/- 0.09 cpoise, p less than 0.001) lower systolic wall shear rate (303 +/- 18 vs 413 +/- 20 s-1, p less than 0.001), lower mean wall shear rate (70 +/- 6 vs 109 +/- 16 s-1, p less than 0.01) and lower systolic wall shear stress (13.86 +/- 0.81 vs 17.02 +/- 1.26, p less than 0.001) but mean wall shear stress was not statistically different between patients and controls. Such wall shear abnormalities are described for the first time in large artery of hypertensive patients and merit attention because of the experimental critical role of low shear conditions on the atherogenic process.
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