Arterial Shear Spectra Influence Endothelial Function and Are Regulated by Vascular Resistance

Biophysical interactions between forces exerted by blood and the vascular endothelium influence atherogenesis. The accurate characterization of these relationships, however, is obfuscated by the variety of metrics that exist to quantify arterial shear waveforms. Spectral analyses of these hemodynamic waveforms are an underutilized metric that may critically inform endothelial biology. This investigation, therefore, examined associations between shear spectral characteristics and endothelial function.

Arterial shear rate waveforms were recorded using Doppler ultrasonography from the brachial arteries of healthy humans. Spectral characteristics of the shear rate waveform were enumerated using Fourier transformations. Associations were explored between spectral characteristics and arterial function represented by brachial artery flow-mediated dilation calculated from the same anatomic site as waveform retrieval. Intracellular endothelial adaptations to different shear spectra were measured in vitro using cultured endothelial cells. Feature selection strategies were used to nominate hemodynamic mechanisms that may regulate the spectral characteristics of the brachial artery shear rate waveform. Vascular resistance was suggested as a candidate mechanism and was manipulated in 2 independent participant samples using local forearm heating and cooling and moderate-intensity continuous exercise.

Positive associations were found between lower-frequency spectral amplitudes and brachial artery flow-mediated dilation. In cultured endothelial cells, lower-frequency spectra imparted an atheroprotective transcriptome measured by bulk RNA-sequencing. Fluorescence microscopy confirmed atheroprotective morphological and functional changes to endothelial cells exposed to lower-frequency shear. Vascular resistance was suggested as a hemodynamic mechanism that regulates shear rate spectra. Experimental manipulations of vascular resistance demonstrated that reductions in vascular resistance induce a leftward shift in shear spectra. Larger amplitudes of shear spectra were further observed among healthy humans compared with humans with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

Low-frequency characteristics extracted from the arterial shear rate waveform associate with decreases in peripheral vascular resistance and may impart atheroprotection in humans.