Exosomes: Cellular Messengers
Your cells are constantly talking to each other. The language? Tiny packages of genetic information.
What are exosomes?
Exosomes are tiny membrane-bound vesicles released by virtually every cell in your body. They range from 30-150 nanometers—about 1/1000th the width of a human hair.
What's inside an exosome?
RNA
Messenger RNA (mRNA), microRNA (miRNA), and other non-coding RNAs that can alter gene expression in recipient cells.
Proteins
Enzymes, signaling molecules, and structural proteins that influence cellular behavior.
Lipids
Bioactive lipids that can trigger inflammatory or anti-inflammatory responses.
DNA Fragments
Small pieces of genomic or mitochondrial DNA that may influence recipient cells.
Exosomes look exactly like viruses.
Under an electron microscope, exosomes and many viruses are indistinguishable. Same size. Same lipid envelope. Same basic structure.
Exosomes
- • Lipid bilayer membrane
- • 30-150nm diameter
- • Contain RNA
- • Recognized by cell receptors
- • Transfer genetic information
- • Produced by host cells
Enveloped Viruses
- • Lipid bilayer membrane
- • 20-300nm diameter
- • Contain RNA or DNA
- • Recognized by cell receptors
- • Transfer genetic information
- • Origin... debatable
Some researchers propose that what we call “viruses” may simply be exosomes exchanged between organisms rather than within them.
What do exosomes do?
Immune coordination
Signal between immune cells to coordinate responses to threats
Tissue repair
Stem cell exosomes promote healing and regeneration
Waste removal
Export cellular debris and damaged components
Stress response
Share adaptation signals when cells encounter toxins or stressors
Gene regulation
microRNAs in exosomes can turn genes on or off in distant cells
The bigger picture.
Exosomes reveal that your body is not a collection of isolated cells—it's a communication network. Every cell is constantly sending and receiving messages.
When you're exposed to a toxin, stressed, or fighting an infection, your cells don't just respond individually. They broadcast their status to the entire system through exosomes.
The terrain perspective: Exosomes are how your body maintains and updates its internal environment. They're the terrain talking to itself.
Your cells are smarter than you think.
They've been sharing genetic information for millions of years—long before we knew what genes were.