Author Spotlight: Effective Reuse of Polycarbonate Tubes for Extracellular Vesicle Isolation

We study cardiovascular diseases, specifically the role of extracellular vesicles in the pathological calcification of cardiovascular tissues, such as valves and blood vessels. Researchers in our group have recently defined methods to extract tissue and trapped extracellular vesicles from fibro calcific cardiovascular tissue to determine their proteomic profile. Our group has demonstrated that these extracellular vesicles contain important protein cargo for initiating calcification in disease tissues.

The specialized tubes used in the ultracentrifugation step of extracellular vesicle isolation can be cleaned and sterilized for reuse. However, proteomic analysis requires special consideration as any contamination could greatly affect downstream results. Here we validate a protocol for reusing consumables, specifically polycarbonate ultracentrifuge tubes for extracellular vesicle isolation that is suitable for downstream low input proteomics applications.

Our protocol is simple and effective, and it will allow researchers to reduce both the consumable costs and the waste typically associated with these isolation protocols.