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Table 1 The main characteristics of extracellular vesicles

From: Therapeutic angiogenesis using stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles: an emerging approach for treatment of ischemic diseases

Biological characteristics

Exosomes

Microvesicles

Apoptotic bodies

Generation

MVEs fuse with cell membranes to release ILVs as exosomes into the extracellular space

budding from plasma membrane directly

budding from apoptotic membrane directly

Shape

Cup-shaped

Heterogeneous

Heterogeneous

Size(nm)

50–150

100–1000

1000–5000

Markers

Tetraspanins (CD9/63/81), Alix, TSG101, flollin, clathrin, MHC

Annexin V, selecns, integrins, flollin-2, CD40, metalloproteinases

Annexin V, Histones

Lipids

PtdSer, sphingomyelin cholesterol, ceramide, lysobisphoshadic acid etc.

PtdSer, cholesterol, sphingomyelin etc.

PtdSer etc.

Nucleic acids

mRNA, miRNA, lncRNAs

mRNA, miRNA, lncRNAs

mRNA, miRNA, lncRNAs, fragments of DNA

  1. Abbreviation: MVEs multi-vesicular endosomes, ILVs intraluminal vesicles, PtdSer phosphatidylserine