Physiological Research, 2008 by Mostefai, H A, Andriantsitohaina, R, Martnez, M C
Summary
Microparticles are small fragments of the plasma membrane released by activated and/or apoptotic cells. In theory, all type of cells can shed microparticles representing a physiological process in the cell life. Mainly, microparticles generation has been studied in different cardiovascular pathologies due to the facility to obtain blood samples from individuals. Although microparticles have been considered as simply markers of several diseases, in the last decade, several studies support the hypothesis that they participate in the regulation of the cardiovascular system function by carrying biological messages between cells. Among the effects of microparticles, recent data show that they can be implicated in the modulation of neovascularization, an essential function of cells from cardiovascular system during either ischemic diseases or cancer development. Whereas during pathologies associated with ischemia an increase of neovascularization may have beneficial effects, anti-angiogenic strategies represent new approaches for manipulation of tumor development. Here, we give an overview of the mechanisms and factors involved in neovascularization, and finally, we look at the role and the consequences of the modulation of this process by microparticles in pathological situations.
Key words
Microparticles * Endothelial cells * Ischemic diseases * Tumor development
Vasculogenesis, angiogenesis and neovascularization
There are two distinct but interconnected processes for the formation of postnatal new blood vessels, vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. The former is referred to the formation of the earliest vascular network via the differentiation of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) (also called angioblasts) into endothelial cells (ECs) (Asahara et al. 1997)
