The present study aimed to investigate the time course of changes in microparticles (MPs) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) that underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary intervention (PCI). A total of 24 STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI were enrolled, and circulating MPs were detected immediately prior to and after PCI, and at 4, 24 and 48 h post-PCI. Standard Megamix beads, based measurement protocols, were employed to measure MPs of different cell origin, including endothelial MPs (EMPs), platelet MPs (PMPs) and leukocyte-derived MPs (LMPs), which were identified by CD144, CD41 and CD45, respectively. The results indicated that PMP levels were evidently elevated immediately after PCI, and reached a maximum level at 48 h. In addition, LMP and EMP levels were significantly decreased immediately after the PCI, and then increased gradually with time. The total quantity of the three aforementioned MP types increased gradually at 48 h following PCI. Furthermore, coronary angiographic Gensini scores were significantly positively correlated with the level of PMPs (r2=0.42; P=0.0006). Log-normalized high sensitivity-C-reactive-protein was also significantly correlated with LMPs (r2=0.86; P<0.01). In conclusion, the time course of the changes in circulating MPs of different cell origin, provided information on possible functions of different MPs in STEMI.
Keywords: ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction; endothelial microparticles; leukocyte-derived microparticles; microparticle; percutaneous transluminal coronary intervention; platelet microparticles.