Table 1.

Isolation of EVs.

Method	Advantages	Disadvantages	References
Ultracentrifugation	•Gold-standard •Cost-effective •High yield	•Time-consuming •Costly •Easily contaminated •Poor preservation of EV integrity and bioactivity due to high G force	(13, 14)
Ultrafiltration	•Simple •Cheap	•Low-yield •Poor preservation of EV integrity	(15)
Size-exclusion chromatography	•Cheap •Biologically intact EVs •Consistent yield	•Time-consuming but quicker than ultracentrifugation	(15–17)
Polymer precipitation	•Quick, simple process •Cost-effective	•Only smaller volume samples •Extremely prone to contamination by precipitation with non-exosome particles •Inconsistent results	(18, 19)
Immunoaffinity	•Quick, simple process •High purity	•Costly •Only smaller volume samples	(11, 13)
Membrane-based separation	•Quick •High yield •High purity	•Specific sample types only (e.g. urine), unable to handle samples with heterogenous cell types– will affect purity •Membrane clogging	(16)
Microfluidic platforms	•High-throughput •High yield •High purity	•Lack of standardization of devices resulting in heterogenous data •Only smaller volume samples	(20)