title: Modes of remodeling in the cortical cytoskeleton of vascular endothelial cells.
abstract: The cortical cytoskeleton of vascular endothelial cells plays an important role in responding to mechanical stimuli and controlling the distribution of cell surface proteins. Here, we have used atomic force microscopy to visualize the dynamics of cortical cytoskeleton in living bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells. We demonstrate that the cortical cytoskeleton, organized as a complex polygonal mesh, is highly dynamic and shows two modes of remodeling: intact-boundary-mode where mesh element boundaries remain intact but move at approximately 0.08 microm/min allowing the mesh element to change shape, and altered-boundary-mode where new mesh boundaries form and existing ones disappear.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, 725 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
authors.forename: Devrim
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pesen
authors.forename: Jan H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Hoh
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000166:cytology