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Review
. 2022 Oct 10;12(19):2716.
doi: 10.3390/ani12192716.

Extracellular Vesicles in Veterinary Medicine

Valentina Moccia  1 , Alessandro Sammarco  1   2 , Laura Cavicchioli  1 , Massimo Castagnaro  1 , Laura Bongiovanni  3   4 , Valentina Zappulli  1
Affiliations
Review

Extracellular Vesicles in Veterinary Medicine

Valentina Moccia et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-derived membrane-bound vesicles involved in many physiological and pathological processes not only in humans but also in all the organisms of the eukaryotic and prokaryotic kingdoms. EV shedding constitutes a fundamental universal mechanism of intra-kingdom and inter-kingdom intercellular communication. A tremendous increase of interest in EVs has therefore grown in the last decades, mainly in humans, but progressively also in animals, parasites, and bacteria. With the present review, we aim to summarize the current status of the EV research on domestic and wild animals, analyzing the content of scientific literature, including approximately 220 papers published between 1984 and 2021. Critical aspects evidenced through the veterinarian EV literature are discussed. Then, specific subsections describe details regarding EVs in physiology and pathophysiology, as biomarkers, and in therapy and vaccines. Further, the wide area of research related to animal milk-derived EVs is also presented in brief. The numerous studies on EVs related to parasites and parasitic diseases are excluded, deserving further specific attention. The literature shows that EVs are becoming increasingly addressed in veterinary studies and standardization in protocols and procedures is mandatory, as in human research, to maximize the knowledge and the possibility to exploit these naturally produced nanoparticles.

Keywords: biomarkers; therapy; veterinary pathology; veterinary physiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the most common methods to isolate extracellular vesicles. (A) Separation of EVs with differential ultracentrifugation; larger EVs are isolated with lower g forces compared to small EVs. (B) Separation of EVs according to their density in density gradient centrifugation. (C) EVs are capture using specific antibodies against exposed antigens; here immunomagnetic beads bear the antibodies but also plate and chip systems are available. (D) Separation of EVs through size exclusion chromatography; while smaller particles are trapped in the porous matrix, larger particles and EVs elute earlier from the column. (E) Ultrafiltration allows the concentration of particles larger than the cutoff size of the filter. (F) In precipitation, a precipitating agent causes sedimentation of EVs and other particles.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Bar graph representing the number of papers on extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the literature; (b) bar graph representing the number of papers on EVs in veterinary medicine literature.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Bar graph representing the number of papers on EVs by non-human species. (b) Pie chart representing the percentage of papers on EVs by application.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Pie chart representing the percentage of papers by EV subtype.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Pie chart representing the number of papers on EVs by purification method.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Pie chart representing the percentage of papers on EVs by number of applied characterization techniques. (b) Pie chart representing the percentage of paper on EVs by characterization technique.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Bar graph representing the number of papers on EVs by starting sample.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Pie chart representing the percentage of papers using EVs for functional studies.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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