BME Seminar

 

 

 

Abstract:

Our goal is to delineate the role of mechanical forces and oxidative stress in endothelial cell (EC) intracellu­lar signaling and gene expression. Our group discovered that cultured EC expo­sure to fluid shear stress repro­duces certain aspects of the reperfusion (RP)-induced endothelial injury, namely the nitric oxide (NO)/peroxynitrite-mediated inhibition of respiration and mitochondrial production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Current work concentrates on the mitochondrial changes during hypoxia/reoxygena­tion (H/RO) or simulated ische­mia/re­per­fusion (I/RP), in order to better understand the mechanisms that lead to the EC dysfunction following I/RP of the heart. Following treatment, cultured ECs are stained with mitotracker and digital fluores­cent images are obtained. Morphologi­cal parameters are determined and used for quantitative compari­sons of the mitochon­drial network between treatments. We found that both H/RO- and I/RP-exposed ECs undergo changes in mito­chondrial morphology, and ROS and NO are responsi­ble for the I/RP-induced increase in mitochondrial fission. Since mitochondrial fission has been implicated in the induc­tion of cell apopto­sis, our studies suggest that, by controlling mitochon­drial network morphology, we may be able to lessen the EC injury following cardiac I/RP.

 

Biographical Information: B. Rita Alevriadou

Dr. Alevriadou received her PhD in Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering & Biosciences Institute, from Rice University in Houston, TX in 1992. Following postdoctoral training in the Department of Molecu­lar & Ex­pe­ri­mental Medicine of the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, she joined the BME Department of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, as an Assistant Professor. In 2003, she joined the BME Center (now De­partment) and the Davis Heart & Lung Research Institute at OSU, as an Associate Professor of BME & Internal Medicine (Cardiology). She is a member of the Integrated Bio­medical Science and Biophysics Gradu­ate Pro­grams and the Institute of Mitochondrial Biology. Dr. Alevriadou is a member of BMES, is on the editorial board of the American Journal of Physiology-Cell, and regularly serves as a reviewer for funding agencies and journals related to the bioengineering aspects of vascular biology.