Research Development on Exosome Separation Technology

• Published in: The Journal of membrane biology 2023-02, Vol.256 (1), p.25-34
• Main Authors: Xu, Wei-Ming, Li, Ao, Chen, Jia-Jun, Sun, En-Jie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aptamers; Biochemistry; Biological Transport; Biology; Biomarkers; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cell culture; Chromatography; Exosomes; Exosomes - chemistry; Exosomes - metabolism; Extracellular Vesicles; Human Physiology; Life Sciences; Membrane filters; Methods; Microfluidics; Plasma; Proteins; R&D; Research & development; Separation; Ultracentrifugation; Ultracentrifugation - methods; Ultrafiltration
• ISSN: 0022-2631; 1432-1424
• DOI: 10.1007/s00232-022-00260-y

Exosomes are special extracellular vesicles secreted by cells, which are of great significance in the basic research of life science and clinical application and has become a hot research field with rapid development in recent 10 years. Therefore, the isolation and separation of exosomes is particularly important for the research and application of exosomes. This paper aims to review the research progress of exosome isolation and separation methods in recent years, including ultracentrifugation, ultrafiltration, size‑exclusion chromatography, precipitation, immunomagnetic bead capture method, aptamer-based isolation, and isolation methods based on microfluidic technology. It is generally accepted that most of the existing methods have limitations, for example, ultracentrifugation is time-consuming and laborious, and immunomagnetic bead capture method and aptamer-based separation method have small sample processing capacity and high cost. As a result, we also introduce some common situations in which two or more methods are combined for use. Finally, the separation and isolation methods including all those presented in this review were compared and summarized. Graphical Abstract