3D Microfluidic Platforms for Extracellular Vesicle Isolation, Characterization, Downstream Analysis and In Vitro Treatment v1

Abstract Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small membranous vesicles secreted by most cell types that play important roles in cell-to-cell communication. Despite the tremendous work in the field, there are still challenges to studying organ-crosstalk mediated by EVs in complex organisms. 3D microfluidic platforms offer promising and novel platforms for EV research to overcome the challenges in complex biological settings. In this chapter, we provide a protocol for the use of 3D systems to study the effect but also to isolate EVs from these physiological relevant complex settings.