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Abstract
Background
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a global medical problem. The smallest membrane-bound nanovesicles, known as exosomes, have a role in complex intercellular communication systems and can be used directly as therapeutic agents by acting as important paracrine factors. Nevertheless, the use of exosomes derived from BMSCs (BMSC-Exos) to treat SCI has been less, and the specific mechanism has not yet been reported.
Methods
BMSC-Exos were characterized by TEM, NTA and Western blot. The effects of BMSC-Exos treatment were compared by SCI in vivo model and a series of in vitro experiments.
Results
BMSC-Exos were found to enhance the expression of autophagy-related proteins LC3IIB and Beclin-1 and enabled autophagosomes formation. After BMSC-Exos treatment, there was marked decline in the level of expression of proapoptotic protein cleaved caspase-3, while that of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 was upregulated.
Conclusion
BMSC-Exos can attenuate neuronal apoptosis by promoting autophagy and promote the potential efficacy of functional behavior recovery in SCI rats. In summary, these findings expand the theoretical knowledge and forms a realistic route for the future treatment of SCI by BMSC-Exos.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by grants from Suzhou Science and Technology Bureau Science and Technology Livelihood Project 2018 (SS201850), Suzhou Revitalizing the key talent’s subsidy project in science and education 2017 (KJXW2017076) and Wujiang District Science and Education 2017 and 2018 (wwk201709, wwk201820).
Disclosure
The authors declare no conflicts of interest in this work.