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dc.contributor.advisorJones-Taggart, Holly
dc.contributor.authorEdun, Farrah A.
dc.date.accessioned2017-11-01T16:16:20Z
dc.date.accessioned2022-03-29T17:39:24Z
dc.date.available2017-11-01T16:16:20Z
dc.date.available2022-03-29T17:39:24Z
dc.date.issued2017-08-01
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10155/813
dc.description.abstractEndothelial dysfunction is the initiating step in atherosclerosis and leads to cardiovascular disease outcomes. This dysfunction can be mitigated by cardioprotective signaling molecules such as nitric oxide (NO) which can be upregulated in the presence of bioactive milk peptides. An investigation into the NO liberating capacity of select bioactive peptides was performed on cultures of Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) and two tripeptides (VPP and IPP) were found to liberate ~50% more NO. This finding drove a further investigation into whether endothelial cells grown on varying matrix stiffness would experience mechanical forces resulting in cellular responses more indicative of in vivo conditions. Polyacrylamide (PAC) gels of varying stiffness (2.5, 3, 10 and 30kPa) were prepared, and cell growth characteristics and inflammatory responses were measured over a nine day period. Findings showed that stiffer gels (10 and 30kPa) supported the growth of significantly higher numbers of HUVECs with smaller cell areas; however, gel stiffness did not induce a pro-inflammatory response in this cell line. Therefore, these results support PAC gels as useful in simulating a biologically relevant environment for the purposes of endothelial dysfunction investigations.en
dc.description.sponsorshipUniversity of Ontario Institute of Technologyen
dc.language.isoenen
dc.subjectEndothelial cellen
dc.subjectAtherosclerosisen
dc.subjectBioactive peptidesen
dc.subjectStiffened matricesen
dc.subjectImmunomodulatoryen
dc.titleEndothelial cell response to bioactive peptides and stiffened extracellular matrices: an investigation into atherogenic pathwaysen
dc.typeThesisen
dc.degree.levelMaster of Science (MSc)en
dc.degree.disciplineApplied Bioscienceen


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