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J Biomed 2017; 2:109-116. doi:10.7150/jbm.17725 This volume Cite

Review

Endothelial Glycocalyx: Novel Insight into Atherosclerosis

Ye Zeng^✉

Institute of Biomedical Engineering, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.

✉ Corresponding author: Ye Zeng, yeedu.cn Institute of Biomedical Engineering, West China School of Basic Medical Sciences and Forensic Medicine, Sichuan University, No.17, Section 3, Renmin South Road, Chengdu, Sichuan 610041, P.R. China Tel/Fax: +86-028-85502314 More

Abstract

The evidence shows that endothelial glycocalyx exerts an important role in inflammation and atherosclerosis. We previously demonstrated that hydrodynamic force such as shear stress induces the remodeling of the major component of glycocalyx including glypican-1 with attached heparan sulfate, and that sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) protects the glycocalyx against syndecan-1 ectodomain shedding and induces the synthesis of HS. Actually, both shear stress and S1P imposed significant influence on inflammatory disease such as atherosclerosis. Therefore, it can be concluded that glycocalyx is a critical signaling platform for determining the fate of endothelial cells and atherosclerosis. This review integrated our current understanding of shear stress, S1P and glycocalyx, and also provided new insight/issues into the role of the glycocalyx in the process of forming and developing atherosclerosis.

Keywords: glycocalyx, sphingosine-1-phosphate, shear stress, inflammation, atherosclerosis.

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