Fig. 1
From: Emerging functions and clinical applications of exosomes in human oral diseases
Characteristics of exosomes. a electron microscopic image of exosomes. Exosome showed a characteristic lipid bilayer with an average thickness of ∼ 5 nm and typical cup-shaped morphology, appearing as flattened spheres with diameters ranging from 30 to 100 nm. b Main constituent of molecules included in exosomes. Many proteins are common among all exosomes regardless of their maternal cell types, including tetraspanins, flotillin, heat shock proteins (HSP70, HSP90), MHC I, GTPases (Rab, RAL) and endosome-associated proteins (Alix, Tsg101). Exosomes also enrich in lipid rafts on the surface, including flotillin, LBPA, cholesterol, sphingomylein, and nucleic acids in the lumen, including DNAs (mtDNA, ssDNA, dsDNA), and RNAs (mRNA, miRNA, rRNA, and tRNA)