Release of extracellular vesicles triggered by low-intensity pulsed ultrasound: immediate and delayed reactions

Abstract

Previous studies have shown that ultrasound may stimulate the release of extracellular vesicles, improving the efficiency of tumor detection. However, it is unclear whether ultrasonic stimulation affects the distribution of extracellular vesicles, and the duration of such stimulation release has not been extensively studied. In this study, we stimulated cells with low-intensity pulsed ultrasound and used liposomes containing black hole quenchers to simulate natural extracellular vesicles, confirming that ultrasound has a destructive effect on vesicles and thus affects particle size distribution. Furthermore, we used proteomics technology to examine the protein expression profile of small vesicles and discovered that the expression of proteins involved in exosome biogenesis was down-regulated. We then looked into the regulation of the actin cytoskeleton and endocytosis pathways, which are required for intracellular vesicle transport, and discovered that ultrasound might induce F-actin depolymerization. The intracellular transport of the cation-independent mannose-6-phosphate receptor (CI-MPR) in the trans-Golgi network (TGN) and the amount of Rab7a protein were proportional to the culture time after LIPUS treatment.