NTA also provides high-resolution particle size distribution profiles and concentration measurements. However, NTA is time consuming and the detection of small particles is underestimated when larger particles are present [44]. The technique is commercially available (NanoSight Ltd., Amesbury, UK; www.nanosight.com). Various approaches have been developed Dasatinib mouse for isolating blood EVS. The particles can be immuno-adsorbed on surfaces using specific antibodies, using different centrifugation approaches with or without density gradients, or as recently
reported using cell sorting [54]. In their study, Bosman et al. isolated EVS from whole blood by differential centrifugation followed by fluorescence-activated flow cytometry. They removed intact cells by low speed centrifugation from citrated blood, and vesicles were isolated from the supernatant, concentrated and washed with phosphate-buffered saline by centrifugation. Vorinostat chemical structure The EVS were then stained with specific antibodies in order to label REVS and PEVS, respectively. Finally, EVS were sorted on a flow cytometer, and analyzed using proteomic tools. Proteomics is an ideal tool to study EVS [55] and [56]. The number of papers published on this topic is rapidly increasing. Proteomics has been used to evaluate EVS from mesenchymal stem cells [57],
from tumor cells [58] and [59], in ascite of patients presenting with colon cancer [60], from HIV-infected lymphocytes [61], in saliva, in urine [62] and [63], in amniotic fluid [64] or human cerebrospinal fluid [65], just to cite the expending field
of research covered by different groups interested in the study of EVS. The technique has been also successfully applied to the evaluation of blood EVS [66] and [67] as performed by Bastos-Amador et al. who analyzed EVS from plasma of healthy donors and showed a remarkably high variability in the protein content of EVS from different donors [68]. Differentiation of erythroblasts into mature RBC is a complex Interleukin-2 receptor mechanism, and many steps have been described. The final pathway leads to the transformation of reticulocytes into circulating RBCS. Carayon et al. analyzed the composition of EXS released by reticulocytes during their differentiation [69]. Several mechanisms are involved in the process leading to maturation of reticulocytes into mature RBCS and resulting in the synthesis of large amounts of hemoglobin as well as in the elimination of numerous cellular components. By combining proteomic and lipidomic approaches, the authors observed alterations in the composition of the EXS retrieved over the course of a 7-day in vitro differentiation protocol, and proposed a model in which EXS are involved in specific pathways of cellular differentiation and maturation. Bosman et al. presented pioneering proteomic investigations of EVS isolated from RBCS [70], [71] and [72], and of EVS isolated from plasma [54].