Fig. 5

3D-EVs induce greater neurite elongation and branching than 2D-EVs. a, b Representative confocal microscopy images of TG neurite elongation cultured under 3D-EVs and 2D-EVs. c, d Neurite growth in EV-depleted media derived from 3D or 2D cultures. e Quantification of total neurite growth demonstrated that 3D-EVs induce significant growth than 2D-EVs. f No length difference was observed in cultures treated with EV-depleted media. Statistical significance was tested with an unpaired student t test (two-tailed) for evaluating differences between the two groups, and statistical significance was determined (P < 0.05) (n = 4 biological replicate & n = 16 technical replicates for each condition). g Sholl analysis performed in the dendritic tree demonstrated that 3D-EVs significantly increased the number of dendritic intersections between 50 and 120 radii compared to 2D-EVs and control conditions. Data represent the mean ± 1 SD of 3 independent experiments. P < 0.05. Scale bar 100 µm