Rapid Characterization and Quantification of Extracellular Vesicles by Fluorescence‐Based Microfluidic Diffusion Sizing


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Date

2022-03-02

Publication Type

Journal Article

ETH Bibliography

yes

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Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are emerging as promising diagnostic and therapeutic tools for a variety of diseases. The characterization of EVs requires a series of orthogonal techniques that are overall time- and material-consuming. Here, a microfluidic device is presented that exploits the combination of diffusion sizing and multiwavelength fluorescence detection to simultaneously provide information on EV size, concentration, and composition. The latter is achieved with the nonspecific staining of lipids and proteins combined with the specific staining of EV markers such as EV-associated tetraspanins via antibodies. The device can be operated as a single-step immunoassay thanks to the integrated separation and quantification of free and EV-bound fluorophores. This microfluidic technique is capable of detecting and quantifying components associated to EV subtypes and impurities and thus to measure EV purity in a time scale of minutes, requiring less than 5 µL of sample and minimal sample handling before the analysis. Moreover, the analysis is performed directly in solution without immobilization steps. Therefore, this method can accelerate screening of EV samples and aid the evaluation of sample reproducibility, representing an important complementary tool to the current array of biophysical methods for EV characterization, particularly valuable for instance for bioprocess development.

Publication status

published

Editor

Book title

Volume

11 (5)

Pages / Article No.

2100021

Publisher

Wiley-VCH

Event

Edition / version

Methods

Software

Geographic location

Date collected

Date created

Subject

characterization; extracellular vesicles; fluorescence; immunoassay; microfluidics; purity; quantification

Organisational unit

09572 - Arosio, Paolo / Arosio, Paolo check_circle
03811 - Leroux, Jean-Christophe / Leroux, Jean-Christophe check_circle

Notes

Funding

801338 - Extracellular vesicles from a natural source for tailor-made nanomaterials (EC)
ETH-33 17-2 - Microfluidic assays for the quantification of low concentrations of proteins in heterogeneous mixtures (ETHZ)
- Intradermal delivery of stem cell exosomes ()

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