TY - JFULL AU - Forough Ataollahi and Belinda Pingguan-Murphy and Wan Abu Bakar Wan Abas and Noor Azuan Abu Osman PY - 2014/3/ TI - Effects of Stiffness on Endothelial Cells Behavior T2 - International Journal of Biomedical and Biological Engineering SP - 87 EP - 90 VL - 8 SN - 1307-6892 UR - https://publications.waset.org/pdf/9997411 PU - World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology NX - Open Science Index 86, 2014 N2 - Endothelium proliferation is an important process in cardiovascular homeostasis and can be regulated by extracellular environment, as cells can actively sense mechanical environment. In this study, we evaluated endothelial cell proliferation on PDMS/alumina (Al2O3) composites and pure PDMS. The substrates were prepared from pure PDMS and its composites with 5% and 10% Al2O3 at curing temperature 50˚C for 4h and then characterized by mechanical, structural and morphological analyses. Higher stiffness was found in the composites compared to the pure PDMS substrate. Cell proliferation of the cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells on substrate materials were evaluated via Resazurin assay and 1, 1’-Dioctadecyl-1, 3, 3, 3’, 3’-Tetramethylindocarbocyanine Perchlorate-Acetylated LDL (Dil-Ac-LDL) cell staining, respectively. The results revealed that stiffer substrates promote more endothelial cells proliferation to the less stiff substrates. Therefore, this study firmly hypothesizes that the stiffness elevates endothelial cells proliferation. ER -