Effect of Couette Type of Shear Stress Field with Axial Shear Slope on Deformation and Migration of Cell: Comparison Between C2C12 and HUVEC

A shear flow device contained in the microscope incubator has newly been designed to study the effect of the shear stress field on the biological cell in vitro. The culture medium was sandwiched with a constant gap between a lower stationary culture plate and an upper rotating parallel plate to make a Couette type of shear field with the perpendicular shear slope. The wall shear stress (Τ) on the lower culture disk was controlled by the rotating speed of the upper disk. The shear stress Τ increases in proportion to the distance from the axis of rotation. After cultivation for 24 hours for adhesion of cells on the lower plate without flow, Τ < 2 Pa was applied on cells for 24 hours subsequently. HUVEC (human umbilical vein endothelial cell) tends to be elongated and aligned under < 2 Pa of the shear stress. C2C12 (mouse myoblast cell line), on the other hand, maintains elongated shape and tends to migrate to the lower shear stress direction (< 2 Pa). The experimental system is useful to study the quantitative relationships between the shear stress and the cell behaviors: deformation, orientation, and migration.