Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, University of Oviedo, Julian Clavería 8, 33006, Oviedo, Spain.
Dairy Research Institute of Asturias, Spanish National Research Council (IPLA-CSIC), Villaviciosa, Spain.
Anal Bioanal Chem. 2024 May;416(11):2595-2604. doi: 10.1007/s00216-023-05056-0. Epub 2023 Nov 24.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are increasingly recognized as crucial components influencing various pathophysiological processes, such as cellular homeostasis, cancer progression, and neurological disease. However, the lack of standardized methods for EV isolation and classification, coupled with ambiguity in biochemical markers associated with EV subtypes, remains a major challenge. This Trends article highlights the most common approaches for EV isolation and characterization, along with recent applications of elemental mass spectrometry (MS) to analyse metals and biomolecules in EVs obtained from biofluids or in vitro cellular models. Considering the promising capabilities of elemental MS, the article also looks ahead to the potential analysis of EVs at the single-vesicle and single-cell levels using ICP-MS. These approaches may offer valuable insights into individual characteristics of EVs and their functions, contributing to a deeper understanding of their role in various biological processes.
细胞外囊泡（EVs）越来越被认为是影响多种病理生理过程的关键组成部分，如细胞内稳态、癌症进展和神经疾病。然而，EV 分离和分类的标准化方法缺乏，以及与 EV 亚型相关的生化标志物的不明确性仍然是一个主要挑战。本文重点介绍了 EV 分离和表征的最常见方法，以及元素质谱（MS）在分析生物流体或体外细胞模型中获得的 EV 中的金属和生物分子的最新应用。考虑到元素 MS 的有前途的能力，本文还展望了使用 ICP-MS 在单个囊泡和单个细胞水平上对 EV 进行潜在分析。这些方法可能为 EV 的个体特征及其功能提供有价值的见解，有助于深入了解它们在各种生物过程中的作用。
