| | Exosomes | Microvesicles | Apoptotic bodies |
| | Mechanism of formation | Fusion of MVBs with the plasma membrane | Outward blebbing of the plasma membrane | Product of programmed cell death and cell shrinkage | | Intracellular origin | Endosomes | Plasma membranes | Plasma membrane, cellular fragments | | Size | 40–150 nm | 150–1000 nm | 100–2000 nm | | Density | 1.13–1.19 g/ml | 1.04–1.07 g/ml | 1.16–1.28 g/ml | | Shape | Spheroid or “cup-shaped” | Irregular | Variable, heterogeneous | | Composition | Proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and metabolites, various types of RNA including mRNAs, miRNAs and tRNA, mtDNA, cytokines, transcription factor receptors | Proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and metabolites, cytoplasmic material | DNA fragments and histone, chromatin remnants, cytosol portions, degraded proteins | | Typical markers | Tetraspanins (CD63, CD81, CD82, and CD9), ESCRT proteins (ESCRT-3, Alix, TSG101), heat shock proteins (Hsp60, Hsp70, and Hsp90) | Integrins, selectins, CD40 ligand, Flotillin-2, ADP-ribosylation factor 6 (ARF6), bFGF, IL-6, VEGF, MMPs | Annexin V, phosphatidylserine histones | | Function | Cell–cell communication, regulate intercellular signal transduction, cancer cell-induced angiogenesis, promotion of cancer cell growth | Cell–cell communication, cancer cell-induced angiogenesis, promotion of cancer cell growth | Facilitate clearance of apoptotic cells, maintaining regular cell populations in tissues for homeostatic mechanism, intercellular communication for immune regulation | | Isolation method | Immunoprecipitation (ExoQuick1), ultracentrifugation (>100,000 g) | Immunoaffinity chromatography ultracentrifugation (10,000-100,000 g) | No standardized protocol, sometimes ultracentrifugation (1,200-100,000 g) | | Detection technology | Electron microscopy and western blotting (with specific exosome markers), TEM, SEM, flow cytometry, ELISA | Electron microscopy, TEM, SEM, flow cytometry for microvesicles >300 nm | Electron microscopy, flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy | | References | [16, 21–28] | [4, 24, 26–30] | [16, 24, 26–28, 31, 32] |
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