Deep vein thrombosis results in the generation of microparticles with elevated thrombogenic potential

Abstract

Background. Microparticles (MP) are small fragments of cell membranes shed from platelets, leukocytes and endothelial cells which circulate within the vascular system. In rodent models, we have found that MP augment coagulation as they are recruited into a growing thrombus, resulting in fibrin deposition. We have demonstrated that MP recovered from rodents with experimentally induced DVT express tissue factor activity in a concentration dependent manner. We hypothesized that primates with DVT would have elevated MP counts and that the MP recovered from these animals would demonstrate a pro-thrombotic protein expression profile.