Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Their Exocytotic Vesicles

Abstract

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), as a kind of pluripotent stem cells, have attracted much attention in orthopedic diseases, geriatric diseases, metabolic diseases, and sports functions due to their osteogenic potential, chondrogenic differentiation ability, and adipocyte differentiation. Anti-inflammation, anti-fibrosis, angiogenesis promotion, neurogenesis, immune regulation, and secreted growth factors, proteases, hormones, cytokines, and chemokines of MSCs have been widely studied in liver and kidney diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In recent years, many studies have shown that the extracellular vesicles of MSCs have similar functions to MSCs transplantation in all the above aspects. Here we review the research progress of MSCs and their exocrine vesicles in recent years.

Keywords: cardiocerebral diseases; differentiation; extracellular vesicles; immunomodulation; mesenchymal stem cells; signaling pathways.

Figure 1

Effects and regulation of MSCs and their exocytotic vesicles in different systems. All solid black lines indicate association or signaling pathways at both ends, solid lines of each color with arrows indicate a promoting relationship, solid lines of each color with horizontal bars represent an inhibiting relationship, solid red lines represent angiogenesis promoting (arrows) or inhibiting (horizontal bars) relationships, solid green lines represent proliferation or apoptosis relationships, blue represents neurogenesis, neuronal proliferation or related inhibition, orange represents promotion or inhibition of differentiation, brown represents promotion or inhibition of inflammatory responses, and cyan represents promotion or inhibition of fibrosis.