Efficacy of bone marrow derived exosomes in the treatment of AlCl3 induced Alzheimer’s disease in adult female albino rats.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is a neurological disorder. It is a fatal, progressive and degenerative condition that destroys brain cells. The death of brain cells causes loss of cognitive state. The disease starts mild and gets progressively worse. Al is a known neurotoxicant that has been reported to alter the BBB under normal physiological conditions and accumulates in different brain regions and has also been reported to be involved within the etiology of several neurodegenerative diseases. In recent decades stem cell therapy has been considered one of the most promising treatments for AD patients. Stem cells are capable of spontaneous self-renewal and subsequent differentiation into specialized cells such as neurons and glial cells. The most commonly utilized stem cells in AD-related studies are MSCs, ESCs, iPSCs and NSCs. MSCs are multipotent progenitors derived from different adult tissues and are capable of in vitro self-renewal. They could be clinically used in AD patients because of their less invasive systemic administration (iv) without inducing tumorigenicity or immunogenicity, besides lacking ethical concerns. Exosomes (30–150 nm in diameter) may act as paracrine mediators between MSCs and target cells. MSC-derived exosomes can recapitulate the biological activity of MSCs, and may serve as an alternative to whole cell therapy. In contrast to the relatively large MSCs (30–60 µm in diameter), nanosized exosomes, have the potential to migrate efficiently to the target organ.