Recent Advancements in Imaging Techniques for Individual Extracellular Vesicles.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), secreted from most cells, are small lipid membranes of vesicles of 30 to 1000 nm in diameter and contain nucleic acids, proteins, and intracellular organelles originating from donor cells. EVs play pivotal roles in intercellular communication, particularly in forming niches for cancer cell metastasis. However, EVs derived from donor cells exhibit significant heterogeneity, complicating the investigation of EV subtypes using ensemble averaging methods.