Abstract
Exosomes are intrinsic cell-derived membrane vesicles in the size range of 40–100 nm, serving as great biomimetic nanocarriers for biomedical applications. These nanocarriers are known to bypass biological barriers, such as the blood–brain barrier, with great potential in treating brain diseases. Exosomes are also shown to be closely associated with cancer metastasis, making them great candidates for tumor targeting. However, the clinical translation of exosomes are facing certain critical challenges, such as reproducible production and in vivo tracking of their localization, distribution, and ultimate fate. Recently, inorganic nanoparticle-loaded exosomes have been shown great benefits in addressing these issues. In this review article, we will discuss the preparation methods of inorganic nanoparticle-loaded exosomes, and their applications in bioimaging and therapy. In addition, we will briefly discuss their potentials in exosome purification.
Highlights
Exosomes are intrinsic cell-derived membrane vesicles in a size range of 40–100 nm, and are naturally secreted by different cells [1,2]
A summary of inorganic nanoparticle-loaded exosomes through physical methods is shown in Table 1, where the experimental conditions were only reported by certain studies
V2C quantum dots (QDs) were successfully loaded into exosomes derived from MCF-7 breast cancer cells via electroporation [30]
Summary
Exosomes are intrinsic cell-derived membrane vesicles in a size range of 40–100 nm, and are naturally secreted by different cells [1,2]. The water solubility of the linker is critical, because the use of organic solvents would cause potential damage to exosomes This technique mainly leads to the attachment of inorganic nanoparticles to exosome surfaces rather than inside the exosomes. Electroporation is often utilized to transfer cargos across cellular membranes by applying a voltage potential from one side of a cell membrane to the other for spontaneous pore formation This technique has been applied to load cargos to exosomes, including inorganic nanoparticles [29]. The uptake mechanism was attributed to the glucose coatings of Au nanoparticles through GLUT-1 glucose transporters in exosome membranes These studies suggested that regardless of the preparation methods, the size and surface functionalization of inorganic nanoparticles are critical for the successful formation of nanoparticle-loaded exosomes. A summary of inorganic nanoparticle-loaded exosomes through physical methods is shown in Table 1, where the experimental conditions were only reported by certain studies
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