Cellular dust
Extracellular vesicles, the so–called "cell dust", are tiny bubbles containing proteins, lipids, matrix or micro-RNA that the cell releases into the environment. In fact, they are biological "nanocarriers".
Extracellular vesicles derived from stem cells have been shown to trigger regenerative processes, including stimulating vascular formation, preventing apoptosis, stopping inflammatory processes, and stimulating cell division.
To date, the most common technique in regenerative medicine is the use of stem cells, but it has many limitations. Studies show that the use of extracellular vesicles derived from stem cells is as effective as the use of the cells themselves, but avoids many risks: vesicles do not divide, which means that the risk of malignancy is reduced; vesicles do not differentiate, which means that the appearance of incorrectly functioning cells is excluded. Moreover, it is possible to use the material obtained from one donor for several recipients at once. This technique has been successfully tested on animals with heart, liver and kidney injuries.
A group of French scientists presented the results of studies on the healing of postoperative fistulas using extracellular vesicles. The experiment was performed on pigs, which artificially formed a fistula next to the pharynx. Then, as shown in the figure, a thermopolymer in the form of a gel containing extracellular vesicles was injected into the fistula. A thermopolymer without vesicles was used as a control. According to the results of the experiment, only in animals whose wounds were treated with a thermogel containing vesicles, fistula healing occurred.
Article by Silva et al. Thermoresponsive Gel Embedding Adipose Stem Cell-Derived Extracellular Vesicles Promotes Esophageal Fistula Healing in a Thermo-Actuated Delivery Strategy published in ACS Nano.
Anastasia Poznyak, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru / based on the materials of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique: "Cellular dust" provides new hope for regenerative medicine.