fig1

Figure 1. Biogenesis and secretion pathways of AEVs. The schematic illustrates the endocytic formation of ESEs, their maturation into MVBs, and the subsequent release of exosomes upon fusion of secretory MVBs with the plasma membrane. Alternatively, MVBs may fuse with lysosomes, resulting in degradation of their contents. This pathway applies to naturally secreted EVs with a demonstrated endosomal origin and should not be presumed to apply to vesicle-like nanoparticles obtained through tissue disruption, sonication, enzymatic digestion, or other processing procedures. Created in BioRender. LIU, Y. (2026) (https://BioRender.com/ju0anww). AEVs: Animal-derived extracellular vesicles; ESE: early sorting endosome; ESCRT: endosomal sorting complex required for transport; EVs: extracellular vesicles; MVB: multivesicular body; Rab: Ras-related in brain.