Chemical characterization of extracellular vesicles of mesenchymal stromal cells: TOF-SIMS and BCARS approach

Abstract

Paracrine functions of mesenchymal stem (stromal) cells (MSCs) rely, at least partly, on membrane-bound extracellular vesicles (EVs) with rich composition of lipids, nucleic acids and signaling proteins. Elucidation the underlying chemistry could potentially lead to MSCs-free therapy. However, the secretome of MSCs (EVs’ composition) is non-static and depends on many other factors including surrounding cells and medium. Thus, the research techniques must be able to provide not only bulk but microscopy-scale data within a reasonable time frame. Two of these label-free techniques are subject of this work toward the question of chemical composition of the EVs.