Endothelial microparticles in vascular disease and as a potential marker of decompression illness.

Abstract

Micro-gas emboli are known to be present within the venous circulation following routine hyperbaric exposure. Emboli can be identified/quantified using Doppler and 2D ultrasound, thus functioning as an index of decompression stress. In relation to decompression illness this technique has low sensitivity and specificity. A biological marker of decompression stress would prove a useful tool. Such a marker could be used to gauge the efficacy of prophylaxis. Endothelial cells are known to shed microparticles during activation and apoptosis. Since microparticles in general express the antigens of the cells from which they were derived, the origin of them can be determined and their phenotype can lead to an insight as to the state of the parental tissue. Microparticles have been studied in many vascular diseases, and reviewed here, and we hypothesise that micro-gas emboli have a capacity to damage the endothelium and thus cause a change in the circulating microparticle population. Reprinted with kind permission from Madden LA, Laden G. Endothelial microparticles in vascular disease and as a potential marker of decompression illness. European Journal of Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine. 2007; 8: 6-10.