Extracellular vesicles for neural regeneration after spinal cord injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is the damage to the structure of the bundles of cells and nerves that communicate signals from the brain to the body and extremities. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have emerged as a promising alternative to MSCs for regeneration after traumatic neural injury, such as SCI, or degenerative pathologies. The use of stem cell-derived EVs in neural regeneration is a rapidly developing field of research. Although many challenges remain to be addressed, the potential of EVs as a therapeutic agent for neural injury and neurodegenerative disease is promising and warrants further investigation.

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  Stem cell-derived EVs have been shown to have many of the same regenerative properties as being MSCs, without the many challenges associated with stem cell therapy.
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  MSC-derived EVs would be effective in restoring functional scores and histopathologic conditions by reducing inflammatory responses; more importantly, the effect occurs in a dose-dependent manner
• 3
  EVs reduced the expression of proapoptotic proteins and increased the expression of antiapoptotic proteins. On the basis of researches reported, regenerative processes regulated by EVs can be associated with specific crosstalk between circulating exosomes and neuronal cells via several independent mechanisms.