Table 1.

Comparison of different methods for the isolation of exosomes.

Methods	UF	UC	DGC	SiO2-pep affinity
Processing time (h)	1	15	32	2
Yield (μg protein in exosome samples per microliter of serum)	22.10	0.16	0.05	0.72
Purity (grayscale ratio of CD9/GAPDH compared to DGC, %)	28	87	100	64
Reproducibility (SD of grayscale ratio of CD9/GAPDH)	0.04	0.09	0.10	0.05
Main contaminants	Macromolecular contaminants, VLDL, CM, HDL, ALB, IgG	Macromolecular contaminants, VLDL, CM, IgG	Macromolecular contaminants, HDL	ALB, IgG, Complexes containing PS
Advantages	Simple, fast, does not rely on equipment [6]	High purity, High sample capacity [6]	High purity [6]	Simple, fast, cheap, high yield, relatively high purity, single contamination, can preserve vesicular structure
Disadvantages	Low purity, loss of exosomes during the process [6]	Cumbersome process, time consuming, requires expensive equipment, may destroy vesicular structure, low yield, not suitable for high-throughput analysis [6]	Cumbersome process, time consuming, requires expensive equipment, may destroy vesicular structure, low yield, not suitable for high-throughput analysis [6]	Purity needs further improvement, low sample capacity