Does dynamic intracoronary thrombosis cause significant downstream platelet embolization?
The magnitude of platelet embolization from a mural intracoronary thrombus into downstream myocardium is small despite the presence of repetitive CFRs.
In a model designed to study SMC/EC interactions, it was seen that ECs can alter growth characteristics of SMCs by producing PAI-1, which interferes with the plasminogen pathway of TGF-beta 1 activation. This suggests that reduced EC PAI-1 production could play a role in alteration of SMC phenotype in vivo.