Emergence of AnnexinVpos CD31neg CD42blow/neg extracellular vesicles in plasma of humans at extreme altitude

摘要

BackgroundHypobaric hypoxia has been reported to cause endothelial cell and platelet dysfunction implicated in the formation of microvascular lesions, and in its extremes may contribute to vascular leakage in high altitude pulmonary edema or blood brain barrier disruption leading to cerebral micro-hemorrhage (MH). Platelet function in the development of microvascular lesions remained ill defined, and is still incompletely understood. In this study platelet- and endothelial cell-derived extracellular vesicles (PEV and EEV, respectively) and cell adhesion molecules were characterized in plasma samples of members of a high altitude expedition to delineate the contribution of platelets and endothelial cells to hypobaric hypoxia-induced vascular dysfunction.