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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2021 May 5;174:348–368. doi: 10.1016/j.addr.2021.04.027

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Schematic representation of the biogenesis of exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies. Exosomes are produced as intraluminal vesicles (ILV) by inward budding of early endosomes, forming a multivesicular body (MVB). MVBs can either fuse with lysosomes or with the cell membrane, thereby releasing exosomes into the extracellular milieu. Microvesicles are generated by outward budding of the plasma membrane, while apoptotic bodies are released during programmed cell death via plasma membrane blebbing. ER: endoplasmic reticulum. This figure as well as the graphical abstract were created using Servier Medical Art templates, which are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License; www.https://smart.servier.com.