A Magnetic Separation-Assisted High-Speed Homogenization Method for Large-Scale Production of Endosome-Derived Vesicles

Summary

Here, we describe a magnetic separation-assisted high-speed homogenization method for large-scale production of endosome-derived nanovesicles as a new type of exosome mimics (EMs) that share the same biological origin and similar structure, morphology, and protein composition of native extracellular vesicles (EVs).

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have attracted significant attention in physiological and pathological research, disease diagnosis, and treatment; however, their clinical translation has been limited by the lack of scale-up manufacturing approaches. Therefore, this protocol provides a magnetic separation-assisted high-speed homogenization method for the large-scale production of endosome-derived nanovesicles as a new type of exosome mimics (EMs) derived from the endosomes, which have about 100-time higher yield than conventional ultracentrifugation method. In this method, magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were internalized by parental cells via endocytosis and were subsequently accumulated within their endosomes. Then, MNPs-loaded endosomes were collected and purified by hypotonic treatment and magnetic separation. A high-speed homogenizer was utilized to break MNP-loaded endosomes into monodisperse nanovesicles. The resulting endosome-derived vesicles feature the same biological origin and structure, characterized by nanoparticle tracking analysis, transmission electron microscope, and western blotting. Their morphology and protein composition are similar to native EVs, indicating that EMs may potentially serve as a low-cost and high-yield surrogate of native EVs for clinical translations.

Introduction

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small vesicles secreted by almost all cells with a size range of 30-150 nm, containing abundant bioactive substances. Depending on the cell of origin, EVs show high heterogeneity, possessing multiple components specific to parent cells¹. EVs are released into body fluids and transported to distant sites where they are taken up by target cells for action², which can be utilized to deliver a wide range of bioactive molecules and drugs for tissue repairing, tumor diagnosis and treatment, and immune modulation^3,4. However, other biolo....

Protocol

NOTE: A schematic of the method is shown in Figure 1.

1. EM preparation and isolation

1. Cell internalization of MNPs
   1. Cell culture
      1. Suspend 1 × 10⁶ rat bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC), 293T cells, or Mouse ovarian epithelial cancer cells (ID8) in DMEM complete medium with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 5% penicillin-streptomycin solution (P/S) in 2 mL per six-well plate (see Table of Materials).
      2. Culture the cells overnight at 37 °C and 5% CO₂.
         NOTE: The number of cells after adher....

Results

The workflow of EM preparation by magnetic separation-assisted high-speed homogenization is shown in Figure 1. Cells internalize 10 nm polylysine-modified IONPs, which are specifically accumulated in endosomes via endocytosis (Figure 3A). After being treated with hypotonic buffer and homogenized, the IONP-loaded endosomes are released from the cells and subsequently collected by magnetic separation. The isolated endosomes are further reconstituted into monodispe.......

Discussion

As a surrogate of cell-free therapy and a nanoscale drug delivery system, EVs have yet to meet their clinical expectations, and a main obstacle is the lack of scalable and reproducible production and purification methods⁶. Therefore, various types of EMs have been developed as EV analogs with similar biological complexity¹⁴. To date, the most commonly used EM example is cell plasma membrane-derived nanovesicles. The preparation of such nanovesicles is relatively easy and st.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Annexin antibody	ABclonal	A11235	Western blotting
BCA assay kit	Beyotime	P0012	Protein concentration assay
Calnexin	GeneTex	HL1598	Western blotting
CD63 antibody	ABclonal	A19023	Western blotting
Cell lysis buffer for Western and IP	Beyotime	P0013	Western blotting
Centrifuge	Beckman	Allegra X-30R	Cell centrifuge
CO2 incubator	Thermo		Cell culture
Confocal laser scanning fluorescence microscopy	NIKON	A1 HD25	Photo the fluorescence picture
DMEM basic (1x)	GIBCO	C11995500BT	Cell culture
Dynamic light scattering (DLS)	Malvern	Zetasizer Nano ZS ZEN3600	Diameter analysis
Electric glass homogenizer	SCIENTZ(Ningbo, China)	DY89-II	Low-speed homogenization
Exosome-depleted FBS	system Bioscience	EXO-FBS-50A-1	Cell culture
High-speed homogenizer	SCIENTZ(Ningbo, China)	XHF-DY	High-speed homogenization
Magnetic grate	Tuohe Electromechanical Technology (Shanghai, China)	NA	Magnetic separation
PKH26 Red Fluorescent Cell Linker Kit for General Cell Membrane Labeling	Sigma-Aldrich	PKH26GL-1KT	The kit contains PKH26 cell linker in ethanol and Diluent C
Polylysine-modified iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs)	Zhongke Leiming Technology (Beijing, China)	Mag1100-10	Cell culture
Potassium chloride	Aladdin	7447-40-7	Cell hypotonic treatment
Protease inhibitor cocktail	Beyotime	P1030	Proteinase inhibitor
Sodium citrate	Aladdin	7447-40-7	Cell hypotonic treatment
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM)	JEOL	JEM-2100plus	Morphology image
Ultracentrifuge	Beckman	Optima XPN-100	Exosome centrifuge
ZetaView nanoparticle  tracking analyzers	Particle Metrix	PMX120	Nanoparticle tracking analysis