Fluid Shear Stress Regulates Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

• 1、Institute of Biomedical Engineering，West China School of Preclinical and Forensic Medicine，

Abstract：To study the effect of fluid shear stress (FSS) on hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) on epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), HepG2 cells were exposed to fluid shear stress with 1.4 dyn/cm2. The morphologic changes of HepG2 exposed to FSS at different duration were observed using inverted microscope observation. The scratch wound assay was used to investigate migration ability of HepG2 cell change. The distribution and expression of cytoskeleton protein F-actin were examined by confocal microscope. The Western blotting was used to detect expressions of the EMT marker proteins. Our results indicated that most of cells changed their morphology from polygon to elongated spindle with well-organized F-actin. After removing the FSS, HepG2 cells recovered their initial morphology with flat polygon. FSS regulated cells to enhance their migration capacity in a time-dependent manner. In addition, FSS induce a time-expressions of the EMT marker proteins in HepG2 cells. These results confirmed that FSS, as an important physical factor, induced the EMT in HepG2 cells.

Keywords： Fluid shear stress (FSS)；Hepatocellular carcinoma cells；Cell migration；Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT).