Table 1.

Summary of published studies related to oviductal extracellular vesicles (oEVs).

Topic	Species	Year	Findings	Analyzed oEVS Content	Characterization Method	Exosomal Molecular Markers	Citation
Analysis of oEVs molecular content	Bovine	2017	Identification of proteins from bovine oEVs cargo from in vivo and in vitro origin. Oviductal EVs carry proteins associated to sperm-binding, fertilization and embryo development.	Proteins	TEM and WB	HSP70 (WB)	Almiñana et al., 2017 Reproduction [24]
	Bovine	2018	Identification of mRNAs, small ncRNAs and proteins from bovine oEVs cargo across the estrous cycle. Biological relevance of oEVs content on sperm/embryo and implications for the reproductive success.	proteins, mRNA and small ncRNA	TEM and WB	HSP70 and ANXA1 (WB)	Almiñana et al., 2018 BMC Genomics [37]
	Murine	2018	Identification of miRNAs from murine EVs cargo across the estrous cycle. Biological relevance of miRNA derived from murine oEVs on sperm and embryo.	miRNAs	TEM and WB	CD9 (WB)	Fereshteh et al., 2018 Scientific Reports [31]
oEVs and their functional effects on gametes (sperm and oocyte)	Murine	2013	Identification of EVs in the murine oviduct for first time and characterization. Expression of Plasma Membrane Ca2+ ATPase 4a (PMCA4a) in the Murine female tract during estrous cycle and in oEVs: role in hyperactivated motility and fertility. Transport of PMCA4a from oviduct to sperm: PMCA4a uptake by sperm via oEVs.	protein PMCA4a	TEM and WB	HSC70 and CD9 (WB); CD9 (TEM)	Al-Dossary et al., 2013 PLOS One [22]
	Murine	2015	Oviductosome-Sperm Membrane Interaction in Cargo Delivery: Detection of Fusion and Underlying Molecular Players Using Three-Dimensional Super-Resolution Structured Illumination Microscopy (SR-SIM).	No	TEM and WB	PMCA4 (TEM) CD9 (WB)	Al-Dossary et al., 2015 J Biol Chem [58]
	Avian	2017	Identification of oEVs from culture medium of Utero-vaginal junction and vagina cells from hens: Changes in localization and density of CD63-positive exosome-like substances in the hen oviduct. Effect of oEVS on avian sperm viability and motility.	No	WB	CD63 (WB)	Huang et al., 2017 Theriogenology [33]
	Canine	2017	Identification of oviductal MVs from canine oviductal epithelial cells culture and characterization. Oviductal MVs improve in vitro maturation of canine oocytes. Oviductal MVs contain miRNAs (miR-30b, miR-375 and miR-503) with roles in follicular growth and oocyte maturation.	hsa-miR-30b, has-miR-375, cfa-miR-503	NTA	_	Lange-Consiglio et al., 2017 Reproduction [34]
	Turtle	2017	Identification of oEVs from turtle oviducts and characterization. Oviductal EVs contact with cilia and with the sperm membrane give this turtle a unique secretory morphology.	No	TEM and immunostaining	CD63 (Immunostaining)	Waqas et al., 2017 J. Exp. Zool. [35]
	Murine	2018	Evidence of delivery of miRNA contained in oEVs to sperm. Localization of miiR-34c-5p at the centrosome in the sperm after uptake.	miRNAs	TEM and WB	CD9 (TEM) CD9 (WB)	Fereshteh et al., 2018 Sci Rep [31]
	Human/Murine	2018	Identification of EVs in the woman fallopian tubes for first time and characterization. Oviductal EVs their fertility-modulating proteins are conserved in humans. PMCA1 and PMCA4 in oEVS are enzymatically active and their activity increased in sperm after oEVs interaction.	proteins (PMCA1-4)	TEM anand WB	PMCA4 (TEM) HSC70 (WB)	Bathala et al., 2018 Mol Hum Reprod [32]
oEVs and their functional effects on the embryo(s)	Bovine	2016	Oviductal EVs from in vitro origin (BOEC) improve embryo quality (number/cells and gene expression) and cryosurvival.	No	TEM, NTA and FC, WB	CD9 and CD63 (FC) CD9, ERM and TSG101 (WB)	Lopera-Vásquez et al., 2016 PLOS One [23]
	Bovine	2017	Embryos take oEVs up during in vitro culture. Oviductal EVs improve embryo development and embryo quality.	proteins	TEM and WB	HSP70 (WB)	Almiñana et al., 2017 Reproduction [24]
	Bovine	2017	Identification and characterization oEVS from different regions of oviduct (ampulla and isthmus): differences in size and concentration of oEVS. Oviductal EVs from ampulla and isthmus have different effect on in vitro embryo development: oEVs- isthmus derived induce a positive effect on embryo quality.	No	TEM, NTA and WB	CD9, ERM and TSG101 (WB)	Lopera-Vásquez et al., 2017 Reproduction [59]
	Murine	2019	Differences in oEVs from murine donor and recipient oviductal fluid: donor higher concentrations and more protein than recipients. Oviductal EVs from donors improve the efficiency of embryo transfer: improve birth rate via resisting apoptosis and promoting differentiation.	No	TEM; NTA; WB; BCA	CD9 and HSP70 (WB)	Qu et al., 2019 Reproduction, Fertility and Development [36]
Other oEVs functions	Murine	2017	Role of oEVs in the interaction between epithelial and mesenchymal cells: oEVs derived from mesenchymal cells modulate the oviductal ciliogenesis.	mRNA (beta-actin, GAPDH and Vimentin)	TEM and WB	CD9 and CD81(WB) C81 (TEM)	Nakano et al., 2017 Biochem & Biophys Res Com [60]

TEM: transmission electron microscopy; NTA: nanoparticle tracking analysis; WB: Western blotting; FC: flow cytometry; BOEC: bovine oviductal epithelial cells; MVs: microvesicles; BCA: protein assay by bicinchoninic acid. All studies used ultracentrifugation as method to isolate oEVs, except for oEVs from turtle (Waqas et al., 2017), in which oEVs were not purified and were identified by immunohistochemistry and TEM.