Jagavelu Kumaravelu, Ph. D.
Principal Scientist, Pharmacology
Basic Biology
Endothelial microparticle mediated signalling
Endothelial microparticles (EMP) are membrane vesicles, shed by endothelial cells by various stimuli due to overt cellular activation by various cytokines or during apoptosis. The protein content or the cargo carried by the EMP highly depend on the stimuli. EMP are known to enclose cyotosolic fractions, cytoskeleton, and nuclear materials such as DNA, RNA, miRNA. These are characterized by the presence of the endothelial markers and are known to play a vital role on several aspects of vascular biology such as thrombosis, inflammation, atherosclerosis and angiogenesis. But, the molecular mechanisms controlling the EMP release has not been explored much. In our laboratory, we are basically focusing on the mechanism of EMP release during inflammatory condition and its uptake by the endothelial cells and hence forth the changes that are taking place at the molecular level and even their effect on remodeling the vasculature in vivo. Cardiac functions are assessed using 2D small animal echocardiograpy and other parameters are assessed using sophisticated instruments. Furthermore, we are trying to explore the contents of the EMPs, which are responsible to carry out such drastic change to the endothelium that leads to processes like vascular remodeling.
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