{
  "abstract": "Endothelial cells (EC) form a dynamic monolayer barrier that regulates vascular permeability and is highly sensitive to mechanical cues, including shear stresses (SS) generated by blood flow. While spatial shear stress gradients (SSG) are linked to vascular pathologies such as atherosclerosis, their direct effects on cellular biomechanics across EC subtypes remain underexplored. Here, using an impinging flow device compatible with videomicroscopy, we demonstrate that exposure of two EC types to SSG causes an immediate and sustained two-fold decrease in migration speed, accompanied by enhanced coordination of collective motion and directional migration against the flow. Concurrently, EC traction and monolayer stresses increase acutely upon flow onset and continue to rise linearly over time. Mechanistically, FAK-mediated mechanotransduction governs flow-opposed migration, whereas the time-dependent increase in traction depends on TGF-β1 signaling and actomyosin contractility. Together, these findings identify SSG as key regulators of EC mechanics, collective dynamics, and signaling, with important implications for vascular disease diagnostics and therapeutics.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Julio César Sánchez-Rendón"
    },
    {
      "name": "Erva Keskin"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nadine Oder"
    },
    {
      "name": "Annalena Reuss"
    },
    {
      "name": "Eleftheria Michalaki"
    },
    {
      "name": "Gerald G. Fuller",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2924-053X"
    },
    {
      "name": "Alexander Dunn",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6096-4600"
    },
    {
      "name": "Effie E. Bastounis",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3656-7888"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5a7cagbk4t8q7.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s42003-026-11283-9",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13731646/",
  "id": "5a7cagbk4t8q7",
  "issns": [
    "2399-3642"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-026-11283-9",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-026-11283-9.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13731646",
  "pmid": "42977751",
  "published": "2026-11-03",
  "publisher": "Springer Science and Business Media LLC",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5a7cagbk4t8q7.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-04T00:21:36Z",
      "native_id": "10.1038/s42003-026-11283-9",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-026-11283-9"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-08T12:21:48Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13731646",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-11283-9"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "issn:2399-3642",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "FAK- and TGF-β1-dependent biomechanical alterations in microvascular endothelial cells exposed to fluid shear stress gradients",
  "title_text": "FAK- and TGF-β1-dependent biomechanical alterations in microvascular endothelial cells exposed to fluid shear stress gradients",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T12:21:48Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/5a7cagbk4t8q7",
  "venue": "Communications Biology",
  "versions": []
}