Adequate endothelial cell stimulation is a prerequisite for the adaptive remodelling of macro- and microvessels. A pivotal autocrine mechanism following endothelial cell activation is the release of angiopoietin-2 (Ang-2), which subsequently antagonizes the binding of Ang-1 to the Tie-2 receptor, thus sensitizing the endothelial cells to pro-angiogenic and/or pro-inflammatory stimuli. Based on the observation that hypertension in mice reduces the abundance of Ang-2 stored in arterial endothelial cells, this study was aimed at testing the hypothesis that an increase in wall stress (WS) or stretch—a hallmark of hypertension—is sufficient to release Ang-2 from endothelial cells.

In fact, stretching of isolated perfused mouse arteries or human cultured endothelial cells rapidly elicited an increased release of Ang-2. In the cultured endothelial cells, this was preceded by a transient rise in intracellular free calcium, abrogated through calcium chelation and accompanied by a decrease in Tie-2 phosphorylation. Interestingly, Ang-1 abolished the stretch-induced release of Ang-2 from both cultured and native endothelial cells through inhibiting the stretch-dependent mobilization of intracellular calcium.

Collectively, these results indicate that increased WS or stretch facilitates the release of Ang-2 from endothelial cell Weibel–Palade bodies, and that Ang-1 can block this by attenuating the stretch-mediated rise in intracellular calcium.