Schematic representation of the different types of extracellular vesicles shed from the placental syncytiotrophoblast into the maternal circulation.
Macro-EVs include the multinucleated SNAs. Large-EVs are largely generated at the plasma membrane surface through blebbing, while small-EVs are generated through both plasma membrane surface blebbing and through multivesicular bodies (MVB) of the late endosomal pathway.