Table 1.
Exosome isolation methods and their advantages and disadvantages.
| Extraction Method | Advantages | Disadvantages | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultracentrifugation (UC; Differential centrifugation) |
High Purity | Low yield, time-consuming, requires costly instruments |
[30,31,32,33] |
| Density gradient centrifugation | Satisfactory purity | Low yield, time-consuming | [30,34,35] |
| Size elusion chromatography (SEC) | Relatively gentle | Unable to differentiate exosomes from particles of similar size | [35,36,37] |
| Filtration (Non-porous membrane-based) | Simple, time saving | Low yield, high contamination | [38] |
| Polymeric precipitation | High yield | Low purity than SEC | [39] |
| Affinity capture (Vn-96 peptide-based) | Simple and time-saving, high yield, high purity | Costly, unsatisfactory recovery | [40,41,42] |
| Immunoaffinity capture (Antibody-based) |
Simple and time-saving, high yield, high purity | Costly, non-specificity of Abs | [43,44,45] |