Plasma membrane-derived microvesicles or microparticles (MPs) are sub-cellular vesicles released upon shear stress, cell activation, injury or apoptosis. They represent factors of the extracellular vesicular compartment1 that also includes smaller (0.03-0.1 µm) multivascular body-derived exosomes and larger (1-5 µm) apoptotic bodies which may contain fragmented DNA. Exosomes are small export vesicles initially derived from the plasma membrane by an endocytosis-involving internalization of the later. In contrast, MPs are larger than exosomes and are derived directly from the plasma membrane after local cytoskeleton rearrangements and membrane budding. Despite different generation mechanisms and effects, they have been considered as universal biomarkers of cell activation, injury or apoptosis, in a broad range of physiological and pathological processes.