Intercellular Junctions Play an Important Role in Orientation of Vascular Endothelial Cells Exposed to Cyclic Stretch

Endothelial cells (ECs) undergoing cyclic stretch align perpendicularly to the stretch direction [1]. Phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK), an important component of focal adhesion (FA) signaling pathways, is thought to be required for the stretch-dependent morphological response of ECs [1]. However, since it has been reported that FAK is not always required for EC response to cyclic stretch is regulated by multiple signal transduction pathways in ECs.