Isolation and Characterization of Extracellular Vesicles from Ex Vivo Cultured Human Placental Explants

Ex vivo culture of human placental explants has long allowed placentologists to study the milieu of soluble factors secreted by the human placenta throughout gestation while retaining the correct three-dimensional structure of the placental villi. Here, we detail the placental explant culture method employed in our laboratory to collect extracellular vesicles which are known to be released by the human placenta throughout pregnancy from 6 weeks of gestation. Using this method, at least three different populations of placental extracellular vesicles can be simultaneously collected from each placental sample, allowing for comparative analysis of the cargos and downstream effects of the different types of extracellular vesicles produced by the human placenta.