Engineering Science and Materials Commons^™

Influence Of Shear Stress Magnitude And Direction On Atherosclerotic Plaque Composition, Ryan M. Pedrigi, Vikram V. Mehta, Sandra M. Bovens, Zahra Mohri, Christian Bo Poulsen, Willy Gsell, Jordi L. Tremoleda, Leila Towhidi, Ranil De Silva, Enrico Petretto, Rob Krams

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The precise flow characteristics that promote different atherosclerotic plaque types remain unclear. We previously developed a blood flow-modifying cuff for ApoE^−/− mice that induces the development of advanced plaques with vulnerable and stable features upstream and downstream of the cuff, respectively. Herein, we sought to test the hypothesis that changes in flow magnitude promote formation of the upstream (vulnerable) plaque, whereas altered flow direction is important for development of the downstream (stable) plaque. We instrumented ApoE^−/− mice (n=7) with a cuff around the left carotid artery and imaged them with micro-CT (39.6 μm resolution) eight to nine weeks …