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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Aug 28.
Published in final edited form as: Chem Rev. 2018 Jan 31;118(4):1917–1950. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.7b00534

Table 2.

Comparison of high-throughput bulk EV preparation methods.

Platform Mechanism of
enrichment		 Advantages Limitations
Ultracentrifugation Density

  • Current gold standard

  • Established protocol

  • Lengthy duration (>4 hr)

  • Large sample volume

  • Requires ultracentrifuge

  • Low recovery and purity
Sucrose-gradient centrifugation Density

  • Current gold standard

  • High purity

  • Lengthy duration (>4 hr)

  • Large sample volume

  • Requires ultracentrifuge

  • Low recovery
Co-precipitation Surface charge

  • Easy and user-friendly processing

  • Lack specificity

  • Difficulty in scaling
Size-exclusion chromatography Size and molecular weight

  • High yield

  • Wide variety of eluents

  • Lack specificity

  • Difficulty in scaling
Field flow fractionation Size and molecular weight

  • Broad separation range

  • Wide variety of eluents

  • Lengthy duration

  • Requires fractionation equipment