New Application Note from Malvern Instruments

Malvern Instruments has published a new application note that examines the use of the company’s NanoSight Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) technology in the study of extracellular vesicles, in this case exosomes, where ensuring the stability of sample preparations is an essential precursor to more detailed research work.

‘Measuring exosome stability with Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis’ describes the use of this technology for size and concentration measurements of exosomes stored at 4oC and at room temperature for up to 5 days. To view or download the application note, go to http://www.malvern.com/exosome-stability.

Apparently ubiquitous in a range of organisms, extracellular vesicles are the subject of intense study and are typically described as exosomes, produced from the cell endosome, or microvesicles, which are the result of cell membrane budding. Current research seeks to provide insight into their role and potential links to clinical conditions.

Understanding the stability of samples under study is essential to ensure that any differences are attributable to test conditions and not to sample instability. The ability of the NanoSight range of instruments to visualize, size and determine the concentration of particles below 300 nm has resulted in it becoming a highly valuable technology in the field of extracellular vesicles.

The Malvern NanoSight range of instruments uses Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) to characterize nanoparticles from 10 nm - 2000 nm in solution. Each particle is individually but simultaneously analyzed by direct observation and measurement of diffusion events.

This particle-by-particle methodology produces high resolution results for particle size distribution and concentration, while visual validation provides users with additional confidence in their data. Both particle size and concentration are measured, while a fluorescence mode provides differentiation of labelled or naturally fluorescing particles.