Microvesicles: Intercellular Vectors of Biological Messages

Figure 1
Figure 1 Schematic representation of mechanisms for the formation of microparticles and exosomes and the different ways by which they interact with target cells

Once microparticles (top) and exosomes (bottom) are released, they can interact with target cells through four mechanisms: (1) ligand/receptor interaction, (2) protein transfer, (3) membrane fusion, or (4) internalization.

This Article

  1. MI April 2011 vol. 11 no. 2 88-94