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Review
. 2017:2017:9158319.
doi: 10.1155/2017/9158319. Epub 2017 Jan 29.

Current Perspectives on In Vivo Noninvasive Tracking of Extracellular Vesicles with Molecular Imaging

Prakash Gangadaran  1 , Chae Moon Hong  1 , Byeong-Cheol Ahn  1
Affiliations
Review

Current Perspectives on In Vivo Noninvasive Tracking of Extracellular Vesicles with Molecular Imaging

Prakash Gangadaran et al. Biomed Res Int. 2017.

Abstract

Clinical and preclinical in vivo tracking of extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a crucial tool for the development and optimization of EV-based diagnosis and treatment. EVs have gained interest due to their unique properties that make them excellent candidates for biological applications. Noninvasive in vivo EV tracking has allowed marked progress towards elucidating the mechanisms and functions of EVs in real time in preclinical and clinical studies. In this review, we summarize several molecular imaging methods that deal with EVs derived from different cells, which have allowed investigations of EV biodistribution, as well as their tracking, delivery, and tumor targeting, to determine their physiological functions and to exploit imaging-derived information for EV-based theranostics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Release of exosomes and microvesicles. (a) Exosomes are represented by small vesicles of different size released from multivesicular body and microvesicles bud directly from the plasma membrane. (b) Typical structure of EV by TEM images and the size of EVs is around 40–500 nm. EV; extracellular vesicle, TEM; transmission electron microscopy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Strategy for labeling of extracellular vesicles. GFP; green fluorescent protein, DiR; near infrared fluorescent dye.
Figure 3
Figure 3
In vivo noninvasive visualization of fluorescent dye labeled EVs in nude mice. Representative in vivo fluorescent imaging of EV-DiR or PBS (control) was administered via the tail vein in nude mice. Images were acquired at 30, 60, and 120 min after injection. EV, extracellular vesicle.
Figure 4
Figure 4
In vivo noninvasive visualization of 99mTc-HMPAO labeled extracellular vesicles (EVs) in nude mice. 99mTc-HMPAO labeled EVs were administrated via tail vein. Image was acquired using pin-hole gamma camera at 1 hour after injection. The image shows liver and spleen uptake. But there was no tracer uptake in the thyroid gland and stomach, which were visualized in free 99mTc images.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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