RNA-seq of wildtype and PIEZO1 knockout mice livers to investigate lipid and glucose regulation by the endothelial force sensor PIEZO1

PIEZO1 is a mechanically-activated ion channel that contributes to flow sensing in vascular endothelium. Moreover, deletion of endothelial PIEZO1 was recently found to suppress activation of Notch1 target genes in hepatic microvascular endothelium. Here, because of the liver’s dominant role in lipid regulation, we set out to test the novel hypothesis that endothelial PIEZO1 regulates hepatic lipid homeostasis. We performed bulk RNA sequencing on PIEZO1-deleted mice exposed to chow and high fat diets. Our transcriptomics analysis reveal unexpected relevance to lipid and glucose homeostasis.