Complement activation may predispose to vascular injury and atherogenesis. The
atheroprotective actions of unidirectional laminar shear stress led us to explore its influence
on endothelial cell expression of complement inhibitory proteins CD59 and decay-
accelerating factor. Human umbilical vein and aortic endothelial cells were exposed to
laminar shear stress (12 dynes/cm 2) or disturbed flow (±5 dynes/cm 2 at 1Hz) in a parallel
plate flow chamber. Laminar shear induced a flow rate-dependent increase in steady-state …