Extracellular Vesicles in Sport Horses: Potential Biomarkers and Modulators of Exercise Adaptation and Therapeutics

Significant systemic metabolic benefits result from even a single exercise session by activating multiple metabolic and signaling pathways within the organism. Among these mechanisms, extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a critical role by delivering their molecular cargo to neighboring or distant cells, thereby influencing cellular metabolism and function. As research progresses, EVs represent an exciting frontier in exercise science and fitness adaptation processes. There is increasing interest in understanding the physiology of EVs as signaling particles and their use as minimally invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in the early detection of oxidative stress-related abnormalities. They also show potential to be used in monitoring exercise progress, injury prevention, or recovery, and may provide insights for personalized training programs. This review examines the current understanding of the role of physical activity in generating exercise-responsive EVs. It highlights the potential applications of EVs in exercise science and personalized fitness optimization, not only for human athletes but also for exercising animals such as horses. On the other hand, it also presents potential difficulties that researchers currently working on this topic may encounter due to technical limitations.