On-chip detection, sizing and proteomics of extracellular vesicles

International audienceMicroparticles are small extracellular vesicles (EVs) (from ~100 to 1000 nm) produced by different cell types, through the budding of the plasma membrane, while exosomes (from ~30 to 120 nm) originate from the endolysosomal pathway before fusing with the plasma membrane to be released. Increased platelet-derived microparticles (PMPs) formation has been reported to contribute to the inflammatory role of blood components used for transfusion. When PMPs formation results from thrombin activation, they are able to aggregate monocyte cells in vitro. Nevertheless, the reason(s) for this EVs functionality/effect on target cells still need to be clarified, due to their high variety in size, protein composition and the potential concomitant presence of exosomes and small MPs in the analyzed samples