Mastering the Tools: Natural versus Artificial Vesicles in Nanomedicine
Naturally occurring extracellular vesicles and artificially made vesicles represent important tools in nanomedicine for the efficient delivery of biomolecules and drugs. Since its first appearance in the literature 50 years ago, the research on vesicles is progressing at a fast pace, with the main goal of developing carriers able to protect cargoes from degradation, as well as to deliver them in a time- and space-controlled fashion. While natural occurring vesicles have the advantage of being fully compatible with their host, artificial vesicles can be easily synthetized and functionalized according to the target to reach. Research is striving to merge the advantages of natural and artifici…
Small Extracellular Vesicles Secreted by Region-specific Astrocytes Ameliorate the Mitochondrial Function in a Cellular Model of Parkinson’s Disease
AbstractExtracellular vesicles (EVs) are emerging as powerful players in cell-to-cell communication both in health and diseased brain. In Parkinson’s disease (PD) – characterized by selective dopaminergic (DAergic) neuron death in ventral midbrain (VMB) and degeneration of DAergic terminals in striatum (STR) – astrocytes (AS) exert dual harmful/protective functions. When activated by chemokine CCL3, AS promote a robust DAergic neuroprotection both in cellular and pre-clinical models of PD, with mechanisms not fully elucidated. Here we used a combination of techniques to characterize AS-EVs derived from VMB and STR, and investigated their potential to exert neuroprotection. First, we show th…