Affiliation: | aInstitute of Medicinal Chemistry, Hoshi University, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8501, Japan bDepartment of Anatomy, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo 181-8611, Japan |
Abstract: | Exosomes are small membrane vesicles (30–100 nm) with an endosome-derived limiting membrane that are secreted by a diverse range of cell types. We provide here the first evidence for the presence of exosome-like vesicles in snake venom. We isolated vesicles from fresh venom from Gloydius blomhoffii blomhoffii by gel-filtration. We found that the vesicles showed a typical exosome-like size and morphology as analyzed by electron microscopy. We observed that the vesicles contained dipeptidyl peptidase IV, aminopeptidase A, ecto-5′-nucleotidase and actin. Vesicle preparations truncated bioactive peptides such as angiotensin II, substance P, cholecystokinin-octapeptide, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide and glucagon-like peptide-1. The role of these vesicles is still unknown, but they may affect blood pressure and glucose homeostasis following envenomation. |