A spatial approach to transcriptional profiling: mechanotransduction and the focal origin of atherosclerosis

The initiation and progression of focal atherosclerotic lesions has long be en known to be associated with regions of disturbed blood flow. Improved pr ecision in experimental models of spatially defined flow has recently been combined with regional and single-cell gene-expression profiling to investi gate the relationships linking haemodynamics to vessel-walt pathobiology.