ABSTRACT
Besides its important structural role in cardiovascular tissues, the composition, organization, mechanical properties, and deformation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) provide rich, dynamic signals to influence a variety of cell behaviors, including cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation. In turn, cells construct, modify, and maintain the ECM around them. This chapter reviews key ECM structural proteins, the mechanisms by which cells modify the ECM, and the mechanotransduction machinery that allows cells to detect and respond to ECM structure and mechanical properties. An exquisite example in which cell–ECM interactions impact cardiovascular tissue biology and mechanics is the aortic valve, which opens and closes 40 million times a year and has developed a highly optimized ECM composition and organization critical to its function of preventing retrograde flow of blood into the heart. Examples drawn from the aortic valve demonstrate how cell–ECM interactions are integral to maintaining tissue homeostasis and how disruption in ECM organization and altered mechanical forces can contribute to maladaptive cell behavior, leading to disease.
