extracellular vesicles tagged posts

A hormone can access the brain by ‘hitchhiking’ on extracellular vesicles, researchers discover

brain
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Researchers at Touro University Nevada have discovered that tiny particles in the blood, called extracellular vesicles (EVs), are a major player in how a group of hormones are shuttled through the body. Physical exercise can stimulate this process.

The findings, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, open the door to deeper understanding of hormone circulation and access to the brain, how exercise may trigger changes in energy balance, mental health, and immune function, and circulation of certain drugs.

Blood and other body fluids are teeming with EVs—tiny particles that exist outside of cells...

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Tiny Bubbles can be Future Treatment for Inflammation

Multimeric decoy receptor EV-sorting protein chimaera is functionalized on several EV subpopulations.

Scientists hope that tiny sacs of material excreted by cells — so-called extracellular vesicles — can be used to deliver drugs inside the body. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now show that these nanobubbles can transport protein drugs that reduce inflammation caused by different diseases. The technique, which is presented in Nature Biomedical Engineering, shows promising results in animal models.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are important in inter-cellular communication as carriers of biological signals. They are nanometre-sized membrane-coated packages excreted by cells that can deliver fatty acids, proteins and genetic material to different tissues.

The tiny bubbles are f...

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Nanowire Device to Detect Cancer with a Urine Test

Comparison of microRNA extraction using nanowires versus conventional collection (a) Scatterplot comparing normalized intensities of microRNAs extracted with the nanowire device versus conventional collection by ultracentrifugation. (b) Histogram showing the frequency of microRNA species at different fluorescent intensities collected by nanowires (red) and ultracentrifugation (blue). Both the scatterplot and histogram analyses show a notably greater abundance of extracted microRNAs using the nanowire technology. © Takao Yasui

Comparison of microRNA extraction using nanowires versus conventional collection (a) Scatterplot comparing normalized intensities of microRNAs extracted with the nanowire device versus conventional collection by ultracentrifugation. (b) Histogram showing the frequency of microRNA species at different fluorescent intensities collected by nanowires (red) and ultracentrifugation (blue). Both the scatterplot and histogram analyses show a notably greater abundance of extracted microRNAs using the nanowire technology. © Takao Yasui

Cells communicate with each other through a number of different mechanisms...

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