title: Live imaging and modeling for shear stress quantification in the embryonic zebrafish heart.
abstract: Hemodynamic shear stress is sensed by the endocardial cells composing the inner cell layer of the heart, and plays a major role in cardiac morphogenesis. Yet, the underlying hemodynamics and the associated mechanical stimuli experienced by endocardial cells remains poorly understood. Progress in the field has been hampered by the need for high temporal resolution imaging allowing the flow profiles generated in the beating heart to be resolved. To fill this gap, we propose a method to analyze the wall dynamics, the flow field, and the wall shear stress of the developing zebrafish heart. This method combines live confocal imaging and computational fluid dynamics to overcome difficulties related to live imaging of blood flow in the developing heart. To provide an example of the applicability of the method, we discuss the hemodynamic frequency content sensed by endocardial cells at the onset of valve formation, and how the fundamental frequency of the wall shear stress represents a unique mechanical cue to endocardial, heart-valve precursors.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Illkirch, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 7104, Illkirch, France; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U964 Illkirch, France; Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France. Electronic address: boselli@igbmc.fr.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Boselli
authors.affiliation: Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Illkirch, France; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR 7104, Illkirch, France; Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U964 Illkirch, France; Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France. Electronic address: julien@igbmc.fr.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vermot
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000502:physiology; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology*; D006439:Hemodynamics; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D015027:Zebrafish
keywords: Atherosclerosis; Embryonic heart; Heart dynamics; Hemodynamic harmonics; Method of fundamental solutions; Shear stress; Stokes flow; Zebrafish