2. Academic Validation
  3. Dynamic nanomechanical characterization of cells in exosome therapy

Dynamic nanomechanical characterization of cells in exosome therapy

  • Microsyst Nanoeng. 2024 Jul 15:10:97. doi: 10.1038/s41378-024-00735-z.
Ye Chen # 1,  Zihan Zhang # 2 3,  Ziwei Li 2 3,  Wenjie Wu 1,  Shihai Lan 1,  Tianhao Yan 4,  Kainan Mei 1,  Zihan Qiao 1,  Chen Wang 1,  Chuanbiao Bai 1,  Ziyan Li 1,  Shangquan Wu 1 5,  Jianye Wang 2 3,  Qingchuan Zhang 1
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Material, Department of Modern Mechanics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027 China.
  • 2 Reproductive Medicine Center, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022 China.
  • 3 Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Reproductive Health and Genetics, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022 China.
  • 4 Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, 130021 China.
  • 5 State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics, Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Science, 15 Beisihuan West Road, Beijing, 100190 China.
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 39015940 DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00735-z
Abstract

Exosomes derived from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been confirmed to enhance cell proliferation and improve tissue repair. Exosomes release their contents into the cytoplasmic solution of the recipient cell to mediate cell expression, which is the main pathway through which exosomes exert therapeutic effects. The corresponding process of exosome internalization mainly occurs in the early stage of treatment. However, the therapeutic effect of exosomes in the early stage remains to be further studied. We report that the three-dimensional cell traction force can intuitively reflect the ability of exosomes to enhance the Cytoskeleton and cell contractility of recipient cells, serving as an effective method to characterize the therapeutic effect of exosomes. Compared with traditional biochemical methods, we can visualize the early therapeutic effect of exosomes in real time without damage by quantifying the cell traction force. Through quantitative analysis of traction forces, we found that endometrial stromal cells exhibit short-term cell roundness accompanied by greater traction force during the early stage of exosome therapy. Further experiments revealed that exosomes enhance the traction force and Cytoskeleton by regulating the Rac1/RhoA signaling pathway, thereby promoting cell proliferation. This work provides an effective method for rapidly quantifying the therapeutic effects of exosomes and studying the underlying mechanisms involved.

Keywords

Nanoparticles; Optical physics.

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