Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 30, 2025

Isolation and Characterization of Exosomes from Skeletal Muscle Fibroblasts
Published on: May 16, 2020
Do different exosome biogenesis pathways and selective cargo enrichment contribute to exosomal heterogeneity?
Shatakshi Shukla1, Fatema Currim1, Rajesh Singh1,2
1Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
Abstract:
Exosomes are emerging intercellular communicators essential for cellular homeostasis during development and differentiation. The dysregulation in exosome-mediated communication alters cellular networking leads to developmental defects and chronic diseases. Exosomes are heterogeneous in nature depending on differences in size, membrane protein abundance, and differential cargo load. In this review, we have highlighted the latest developments in exosome biogenesis pathways, heterogeneity, and selective enrichment of various exosomal cargoes including proteins, nucleic acids, and mitochondrial DNA. Furthermore, the recent developments in the isolation techniques of exosome subpopulations have also been discussed. The comprehensive knowledge of extracellular vesicle (EV) heterogeneity and selective cargo enrichment during specific pathology may provide a clue for disease severity and early prognosis possibilities. The release of specific exosome subtypes is associated with the progression of specific disease type and hence a probable tool for therapeutics and biomarker development.
Related Concept Videos
Overview of Exosomes
Stahl et al. discovered exosomes in 1983, but the exosomes were initially considered waste products released from the...
Intralumenal Vesicles and Multivesicular Bodies
Regulation of Nuclear Protein Sorting
ER Retrieval Pathway
The ER uses many checkpoints to prevent the entry of incorrectly folded or a resident protein as cargo onto a transport vesicle. These mechanisms...
Introduction to Membrane Traffic
The transport of soluble and membrane proteins is mediated by transport vesicles that collect cargo from one cellular compartment and deliver it to another by fusing with the target organelle membrane. The Rab...
COP Coated Vesicles

