Small RNA profiling in neuronal-derived exosomes. Small RNA transcriptomes

Two common exosome isolation methods involve differential ultracentrifugation or differential ultracentrifugation coupled with Optiprep gradient fractionation. Generally, the incorporation of an Optiprep gradient gives a better separation and a higher purity of exosomes. The question of whether a higher purity of exosomes is required for small RNA profiling, especially for diagnostic and biomarker purposes, has not been addressed. We compared the RNA content in exosomes and found that exosomes from both isolation methods contained a diverse range of small RNAs including microRNA.

两种常用的外泌体（exosome）分离方法包括差速超速离心法，以及差速超速离心联合Optiprep梯度分级分离法。通常，引入Optiprep梯度步骤可实现更优的分离效果，并获得纯度更高的外泌体。针对小RNA谱分析（尤其在诊断与生物标志物相关研究场景中）是否需要更高纯度外泌体这一问题，目前尚未得到解答。本研究对比了外泌体的RNA组分，结果显示两种分离方法所得的外泌体均包含包括微小RNA（microRNA）在内的多种小RNA。