Figure 2.

Circulating small EV isolates both pregnant and non-pregnant women expressed markers of small EVs both pre- and post-exercise. (A) Cropped representative western blot images show the positive expression of flotillin-1 (FLOT1) and tumor suppressor gene-101 (TSG101) in small EV isolates from pregnant and non-pregnant women, both pre- (‘Pre’) and post-exercise (‘Post’). Calnexin, a negative control marker for small EVs, was not detected in small EV isolates from either group. Positive controls for calnexin expression included BeWo choriocarcinoma cell lysates (‘BeWo’) and term human placenta tissue lysates (‘placenta’). Each lane represents a sample from a single individual, while each pair of lanes were obtained from the same participant. Full length blots are presented in Supplementary Fig. 1. (B) Shows a representative transmission electron microscopy image of small EV pellets where round particles (~ 100 nm in size) with distinct, intact membranes can be seen (scale bar = 100 nm). EVs, extracellular vesicles.