Abstract

Circulating microvesicles (cMVs) are small membrane structures that are secreted by multiple cell types and have been found in blood, urine, saliva and other body fluids. cMVs transfer information from cell to cell by transporting
selected proteins, mRNA and microRNA and contain specific subsets of proteins that are likely to correlate to their origin.
Due to these specific proteins cMVs are of particular interest in discovering new tools to diagnose human diseases.
The numbers of cMVs shed by cells increases when the cell is biochemically stressed. To determine if the physical stress
associated with bowel preparation and colonoscopy would result in an increase in the amount of colon cMVs shed into the vascular system, blood was collected prospectively from 27 individuals at five different time points and processed into
plasma. The five time points were chosen for this study to establish the baseline level of colon cMVs, the effect of bowel
preparation, the effect of colonoscopy, and then two time points after colonoscopy to determine when cMV levels
returned to their baseline level.