Exosomes – a promising drug delivery platform for targeted therapy against Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD), one of the most common movement and neurodegenerative disorders, is challenging to treat, largely because the blood-brain barrier blocks passage of most drugs. Researchers from Sichuan University found exosomes from blood showing natural brain targeting ability which involved the transferrin-transferrin receptor interaction. Thus, they developed a biocompatible platform based on blood exosomes for delivering drugs across the blood-brain barrier. Blood exosomes show sizes between 40 and 200 nm and spherical morphology, and dopamine can be efficiently loaded into blood exosomes by a saturated solution incubation method. Further in vitro and in vivo studies demonstrates these exosomes successfully delivered dopamine to brain, including the striatum and substantia nigra. Brain distribution of dopamine increased >15-fold by using the blood exosomes as delivery system. Dopamine-loaded exosomes show much better therapeutic efficacy in a PD mouse model and lower systemic toxicity than free dopamine after intravenous administration. These results suggest that blood exosomes can be used as a promising drug delivery platform for targeted therapy against PD and other diseases of the central nervous system.