TABLE 1.
Characteristics of blood plasma nanoparticles.
| Blood-plasma nanoparticle | Subgroup | Diameter (nm) | Density (g/cm3) | Concentration in blood plasma (particles/mL) | Detection in extracellular-vesicle isolates | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extracellular vesicles (EVs) | All plasma EVs | 40–1,000 | 1.08–1.21 (1.110–1.190) | 108–1013 (on average, 1010) | Presence/concentration of EV-derived proteins (e.g., tetraspanins CD9, CD63, CD81, TSG101, Flotilin1, others) | Simonsen, (2017); Berckmans et al. (2019); Johnsen et al. (2019); Mathieu et al. (2019); Tian et al. (2020) |
| Platelet-derived EVs | 108–1010 | Presence/concentration of platelets in plasma prior to EV isolation; Presence/concentration of CD41, CD42a, CD61, CD62p EVs in EV isolate | ||||
| Lipoproteins | High density | 5–12 | 1.063–1.210 | 1016 a | Presence/concentration of ApoA1 | Nakajima et al. (2001); Wojczynski et al. (2011); Sabaka et al. (2013); Tsimikas et al. (2018); Tian et al. (2020) |
| Low density | 18–25 | 1.019–1.063 | 1015 a | Presence/concentration of ApoB100 | ||
| Intermediate density | 25–35 | 1.006–1.019 | 1012 a , b | Presence/concentration of ApoB100 | ||
| Lipoprotein (a) | 12–500 | 1.048–1.086 | 1012 b | Presence/concentration of ApoB100 and ApoA1 | ||
| Very low density | 30–80 | 0.930–1.006 | 1012 a , b | Presence/concentration of ApoB100 | ||
| Chylomicrons | 75–1,200 | <0.930 | 1013 a , c | Presence/concentration of ApoB48 | ||
| Chylomicron remnants | 30–80 | 0.950–1.006 | 1012–1013 a , c , d | Presence/concentration of ApoB48 | ||
| Protein aggregates | - | <1–15,000 | ∼1.4 (dense packing) | 1017 b of albumin 1016 b of globulins | Protein concentration (absorbance at 280 nm, bicinchoninic acid/Bradford assay) | Buis et al. (1996); Stanyon and Viles, (2012); Simonsen, (2017) |
| Viruses | - | 30–300 | 1.16–1.18 (most retroviruses) | Depends on the infection status | Presence of viral genome (DNA/RNA extraction and quantification) | Nolte-‘t Hoen et al. (2016), Raab-Traub and Dittmer, (2017) |
a
Numbers can change significantly with prandial status and diet composition.
b
Numbers of particles calculated from reported mass concentrations in plasma.
c
Mostly present post-prandially.
d
Numbers of particles calculated from reported mass concentrations of their specific protein (ApoB48) in plasma.