2023-05-30 04:30:13
Researchers from the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Rosario demonstrated that stem cells produce and release small bags called exosomes that favor the regeneration of damaged neurons and the proliferation of new stem cells in cases of neurodegenerative diseases, cerebrovascular accidents (ACV) and brain injuries. . Although the work was carried out with mouse cells, its results contribute to understanding human physiology. From this discovery, new therapeutic strategies could emerge to treat different cases.
The death of neurons associated with the development of chronic diseases of the nervous system such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s generates cognitive deterioration that constitutes the first cause of disability and the second of mortality in people over 65 years of age. In principle, this loss is irreversible because neurons are cells of the organism that cannot multiply. When brain injuries, strokes, or neurodegenerative diseases occur, nerve tissue has little ability to recover..
“While this is true, we now know that they can be regenerated from stem cells”, indica Claudia Banchio, researcher at the Conicet dependent Institute and the National University of Rosario. This fact prompts the search for an effective way to increase neural stem cells in the brain. In this framework, the research demonstrates two fundamental effects of exosomes: on the one hand, they increase the proliferation of stem cells and, on the other hand, they lead them to differentiate specifically into new neurons.
Susana Delgadoa Conicet scholar who completed her doctoral thesis with this research work, adds: “We also observe how exosomes restore normal functionality to damaged neurons that can result from injury to the brain”.
microscopic colors
The experiments that yield these results were carried out using stem cells isolated from the brain of mice at thirteen days of gestation. “We start with mouse embryos that measure more or less one centimeter and from there we obtain the stem cells to carry out the experiments. It is a work of great precision and many hours in the fluorescence microscope.”, details the intern.
With cell biology techniques, which combine the use of antibodies with molecules that emit fluorescence, specific structures present in different cell types can be identified and made visible, which would otherwise be seen translucent when viewed under a microscope.
“This way we were able to verify that the promoting effect of exosomes on the differentiation of stem cells generates neurons and not another type of nerve cell”, explains Delgado.
From basic science to business
For its novelty and creativity, the results of this research are protected by a provisional patent and are the foundation of a tech company called EXO+. “The fact that these extracellular vesicles increase the parameters associated with neuronal function that are generally affected by neurodegenerative diseases, raises the hypothesis that they could be used to regenerate neurons in the context of these pathologies”, anticipates Banchio, coordinator of the study.
When an innovative company arises from the investigations carried out by Conicet specialists, the organization has a leading role in its development. In the case of EXO+, it also has financing provided by the SF500 investment committee, an initiative of the Bioceres company and the province of Santa Fe that seeks to promote interactions between the scientific system and the productive sector.
Banchio highlights the importance of this technological link because “without basic science you cannot get to something applied. In Argentina, researchers are not yet used to doing these startups, but The reality is that the science that develops them can come out of the doctoral theses that we direct, as it was in my case”, emphasizes.
Questions and perspectives
In the paths of research, the results always enable new questions. Currently, Banchio and his team began a series of biochemical analyzes to determine which of the molecules that make up exosomes are involved in promoting neuronal regeneration and understand the molecular mechanisms by which they exert this effect on cells.
“We are interested in establishing whether the exosomes are functional on human neurons under in vitro conditions that reproduce the effects of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease,” explains Banchio. In addition, they plan trials with aged stem cells to see how they respond to exosomes from younger cells.
“We have come this far because I am convinced that this basic science cannot only be written in books or in scientific journals.but it has to reach society”, underlines the researcher.
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