Extracellular vesicles as prospective biological indicators for midgestational placental complications in the mouse

This study investigates the miRNA content of extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolated from placental tissue at embryonic day 10.5 (D10.5) in a conditional Nodal knockout mouse model that exhibits abnormal placentation. EVs were isolated from enzymatically digested placentae of both Nodal^loxP/loxP (control) and Nodal^Δ/Δ (KO) mice. Small RNA sequencing was performed on isolated EVs to identify differentially expressed miRNAs associated with disrupted placental development. Placentae were collected from Nodal^loxP/loxP (n=3) and Nodal^Δ/Δ (n=3) embryos at D10.5. EVs were isolated using enzymatic digestion followed by size-exclusion chromatography. Small RNA libraries were prepared from EV RNA and sequenced. Expression profiles were compared between the two groups to identify miRNAs linked to placental dysfunction.