Figure 1. Circulating endothelial cells (CECs) and cellular microparticles (MP) in children with recurrent arterial ischaemic stroke (AIS).
A) CEC count in children with recurrent AIS was significantly higher compared to those children with no recurrence (p = 0.0001), children with cerebral arteriovenous malformation (AVM) (p = 0.0002), and child controls (p = 0.0001). (B) Prospective changes in CEC count in 8 children with arteriopathy and AIS. CECs at presentation for 6 children with a monophasic disease course were 36 (8–40) cells/mL and at follow-up 24 (0–32) cells/mL. For 2 children there was clinical AIS recurrence associated with cerebral arteriopathy progression (shown in red) associated with a sustained increase in CEC count at latest follow-up. (C) Circulating endothelial-derived MPs expressing CD62E correlated significantly with CECs, r = 0.67, p = 0.0001. (D) For the 6 children with a stable course with no AIS recurrence, total AnV+ MPs were at 130 (120–190) × 103/mL at initial assessment to 115 (120–150) × 103/mL at follow-up, and in 2 children with recurrence (marked in red), 390 (300–480) × 103/mL at presentation to 375 (290–440) × 103/mL at follow-up. (E) The total circulating AnV+ MPs correlated significantly with MP-mediated peak thrombin nM, r = 0.73, p = 0.0001. Spearman rank correlation was employed to examine the association between studied parameters. Kruskal-Wallis test followed by the Mann-Whitney U test was used to examine differences between the study groups. p Values of less than 0.05 (2-sided) were regarded as significant. EMP = endothelial microparticles.