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Circulating exosomes decrease in size and increase in number between birth and age 7: relations to fetal growth and
Marta Díaz1,2, Paula Casano1,2, Tania Quesada3,4
1Endocrinology Department, Institut de Recerca Sant Joan de Déu, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
Insights
Infant exosome size decreases and number increases by age 7, with differences observed between appropriate-for-gestational-age and small-for-gestational-age infants. Exosome size at age 7 correlates with childhood liver fat.
Area of Science:
- Cellular Biology
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Metabolic Health
Background:
- Exosomes are crucial for intercellular communication, transferring molecular cargo.
- Understanding exosome dynamics in children is limited.
- Fetal growth may influence early-life exosome characteristics.
Purpose of the Study:
- To longitudinally assess exosome size and number in infants and children.
- To compare exosome dynamics between appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA) and small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants.
- To correlate exosome characteristics with endocrine-metabolic health and body composition.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study of 75 infants (40 AGA, 35 SGA) from birth to 7 years.
- Measured circulating exosome size and number at birth, 2, and 7 years.
- Assessed HOMA-IR, IGF-1, body composition (DXA), and abdominal fat (MRI).
Main Results:
- AGA infants showed decreased exosome size and increased number by age 7.
- SGA infants had larger exosomes at birth and lower exosome numbers at ages 2 and 7 compared to AGAs.
- Exosome size at age 7 was significantly associated with liver fat in the entire cohort.
Conclusions:
- Early-life exosome changes (size decrease, number increase) are influenced by fetal growth.
- Exosome size may serve as an early indicator of childhood liver fat.
- These findings provide insights into exosome biology in pediatric development.
Purpose:
Exosomes play a key role in cell-to-cell communication by transferring their cargo to target tissues. Little is known on the course of exosome size and number in infants and children.
Methods:
Longitudinally, we assessed the size and number of circulating exosomes at birth and at ages 2 and 7 yr in 75 infants/children born appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA; n=40) or small-for-gestational-age (SGA; n=35 with spontaneous catch-up), and related those results to concomitantly assessed measures of endocrine-metabolic health (HOMA-IR; IGF-1), body composition (by DXA at ages 0 and 2) and abdominal fat partitioning (subcutaneous, visceral and hepatic fat by MRI at age 7).
Results:
Circulating exosomes of AGAs decreased in size (on average by 4.2%) and increased in number (on average by 77%) between birth and age 7. Circulating exosomes of SGAs (as compared to those of AGAs) had a larger size at birth [146.8 vs 137.8 nm, respectively; p=0.02], and were in lower number at ages 2 [4.3x1011 vs 5.6x1011 particles/mL, respectively; p=0.01] and 7 [6.3x1011 vs 6.8x1011 particles/mL, respectively; p=0.006]. Longitudinal changes were thus more pronounced in SGAs for exosome size, and in AGAs for exosome number. At age 7, exosome size associated (P<0.0001) to liver fat in the whole study population.
Conclusion:
Early-life changes in circulating exosomes include a minor decrease in size and a major increase in number, and these changes may be influenced by fetal growth. Exosome size may become one of the first circulating markers of liver fat in childhood.
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