Schematic depiction of the SICM setup in a typical cell compliance experiment.

<p>Schematic depiction of the SICM setup in a typical cell compliance experiment.</p

Representative SICM images from different parts of aorta and endothelial cells after shear stress.

<p>(A) Representative topographical SICM images of 80×80 µm regions of the inner and outer curvature regions of the ascending pig aorta and of PAEC cultured under static (control) or sheared conditions. The greyscale represents the height of the cells. Edge = a region near the edge of the well thought to experience directional pulsatile shear and centre = a region near the centre of the well thought to experience non-directional steady shear (B) Distribution of IE under all conditions studied. (Upper graphs- inner and outer parts of aorta; Bottom graphs-cell culture-static centre, shear centre and shear edge).</p

Compliance measurements from different parts of aorta and endothelial cells after shear stress.

<p>(A); (B) Compliance of cells of the inner and outer curvatures of the ascending aorta and of cultured PAEC. Data were analysed by T-test. P≤0.05 was deemed significant and is indicated by *. (C) Relation between shape and compliance of cells in the aorta (linear correlation coefficient R = −0.56) and PAEC (linear correlation coefficient R = −0.66).</p