Bone Tissue Exosome Research and Application

The so-called bone tissue is biologically divided into bone tissue and cartilage tissue. According to current understanding, bone tissue and cartilage tissue are dynamic tissues that can induce adaptive changes in their structure and function through mechanical loading. In the ordered structure of bone tissue, the lacunae-canalicular system contains various bone tissue cells (such as osteoblasts, osteoclasts, and osteocytes), which regulate the bone remodeling process by releasing exosomes. In cartilage tissue, chondrocytes of different differentiation stages exist in the lacunae of the cartilage matrix. Different chondrocytes in the cartilage lacuna can secrete exosomes for material exchange between cells. In recent years, the role of exosomes in bone metabolism has become increasingly important. Exosomes play an important role in the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of various orthopedic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, femoral head necrosis, and osteoporosis. However, in vitro cell supernatant-derived exosomes and body fluid-derived exosomes cannot directly characterize exosomes in bone and cartilage tissues. Therefore, direct extraction of exosomes from bone tissue and cartilage tissue can better reflect the tissue microenvironmental state of these diseases, and help to more accurately explain the pathogenesis of orthopedic diseases or screen for more authentic and specific diagnostic markers. Creative Biolabs has been paying attention to the emerging research on exosomes derived from bone tissue and cartilage tissue, and is willing to explore the potential of these exosomes with customers.

Bone Tissue Exosome Research and Application

Patients with senile osteoporosis are often accompanied by vascular calcification. On the one hand, it manifests as decreased bone mass, and on the other hand, it manifests as increased heterotopic ossification of the vessel wall. In the previous study, researchers have successfully extracted extracellular vesicles (EVs) from the aging bone matrix of humans or mice through collagenase digestion and ultracentrifugation. Then they constructed osteocyte-specific EV tracer mice through the Cre-Loxp genetic modification system and found that bone matrix EVs were mainly secreted by osteocytes and could be transported to the aortic vessel wall. Subsequent in vivo and in vitro functional studies found that EVs from aging bone matrix could enter the bone marrow cavity and vascular tissues, and promote adipogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and osteogenic transdifferentiation of vascular smooth muscle cells by transferring miR-483-5p and miR-2861, thereby inducing an imbalance between bone and fat and exacerbating vascular calcification. This study provides a new idea for the prevention and treatment of senile osteoporosis.

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram showing the role of AB-EVs as a messenger for calcification paradox by favoring BMSC adipogenesis and VSMC calcification. (Wang, 2022)

Cartilage Tissue Exosome Research and Application

Injured articular cartilage cannot be repaired and regenerated due to the lack of blood supply to the cartilage and the difficulty of migration of undifferentiated cells to the injured site after injury. For a long time, methods or drugs for cartilage regeneration have been explored. However, treatment with umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (HUCMSCs) may cause cartilage hypertrophy despite their great repair potential. In recent years, several research groups have shown that stem cell exosomes or engineered exosomes derived from cell culture supernatant have a good repair effect on cartilage. Therefore, researchers successfully isolated EVs from human polydactyly cartilage tissue by digestion and ultracentrifugation. Through further in vitro and in vivo studies, they found that these EVs effectively promoted the proliferation and cartilage differentiation of HUCMSCs without the side effects of cartilage hypertrophy. The results of this study provide a new perspective for the repair of articular cartilage.

Fig. 2 The graphic illustration for C-EVs promoting chondrogenic differentiation of HUCMSCs. (Ma, 2020)

Creative Biolabs has been committed to helping customers tap the potential of exosomes. If you want to study exosomes from bone tissue or cartilage tissue, please feel free to contact us and leave your contact information and specific ideas. Our professional technical team can provide one-stop services for tissue exosomes, including tissue exosome extraction and identification services, tissue exosome profiling service, body fluid exosome and tissue exosome combined research service, tissue exosome and single-cell combined transcriptomics and proteomics research services, and tissue exosome in vivo and in vitro function research services.

References

Wang, ZX.; Luo, ZW.; et al. Aged bone matrix-derived extracellular vesicles as a messenger for calcification paradox. Nature Communication. 2022. 13(1):1453.
Ma, K.; Zhu, B.; et al. Articular chondrocyte-derived extracellular vesicles promote cartilage differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells by activation of autophagy. Journal of Nanobiotechnology. 2020. 18(1):163.

Plant Exosome Isolation