SHOCK-WAVE INDUCED ENDOTHELIAL DAMAGE - IN-SITU ANALYSIS BY CONFOCAL LASER-SCANNING MICROSCOPY

For more than a decade, extracorporal shock wave lithotripsy has been a standard clinical method for the treatment of urinary stones. Howeve r, side effects that are likely to be correlated to vessel damage can often be observed using noninvasive diagnostic techniques, e.g., magne tic resonance imaging. To avoid side effects it is useful to understan d the interaction between shock waves and the vascular system. In part icular, this is important in view of new applications like gallstone l ithothripsy. In the present study, we exposed human umbilical vessels to electromagnetically generated ultrasound shock waves to analyze sub sequent alterations of their endothelial layer. Following en face prep aration and fluorescent staining, the endothelium was examined in a co nfocal laser scanning microscope. Endothelial cells of the shock wave exposed vessels revealed permeabilization of plasma membranes and mito chondrial alterations as potentially lethal damage. An increase in the number of stress fibres may indicate functional changes possibly infl uencing vessel wall permeability.