Fig. 2

Characterization of plasma sEVs isolated by UC, SEC, combining SEC with UC. a-c Transmission electron microscope (TEM) images of sEVs obtained by UC (a), SEC (b), combining SEC with UC (c). All isolated sEVs contained vesicles of variable sizes in the range of 60–100 nm. Black arrows indicate examples of sEVs (cup-shaped). The other white particles were co-isolated lipoproteins. d-f The size distribution of sEVs separated by UC (d), SEC (e), combining SEC with UC (f) was measured using nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA). The images shown were representative of three experiments. g Coomassie blue staining exhibited the total protein level of plasma sEVs isolated by three methods. h Western blotting showed the expression of three positive markers (CD9, CD81, and HSP90) on the vesicles isolated by UC, SEC, combining SEC with UC