Physiological and pathological insights into exosomes in the brain

Xiao-Hui Li; Juan Zhang; Ding-Feng Li; Wei Wu; Zhong-Wen Xie; Qiang Liu

doi:10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2020.043

Physiological and pathological insights into exosomes in the brain

Zool Res. 2020 Jul 18;41(4):365-372. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2020.043.

Authors

Xiao-Hui Li^{1

2

3}, Juan Zhang^{1

2

3}, Ding-Feng Li^{1

2

4

3}, Wei Wu⁵, Zhong-Wen Xie⁶, Qiang Liu^{1

2

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Institute on Aging and Brain Disorders, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China.
² Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.
³ CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China.
⁴ National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230029, China.
⁵ Organ Transplantation Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, Anhui 230036, China. E-mail: zhongwenxie@ahau.edu.cn.
⁷ CAS Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, China.
⁸ CAS Key Laboratory of Brain Function and Disease, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China. E-mail: liuq2012@ustc.edu.cn.

Abstract

Exosomes are small vesicles secreted by all cell types in the brain and play a role in cell-cell communication through the transfer of cargo or encapsulation. Exosomes in the brain have considerable impact on neuronal development, activation, and regeneration. In addition, exosomes are reported to be involved in the onset and propagation of various neurodegenerative diseases. In this review, we discuss the content of exosomes derived from major cell types in the brain, and their function under physiological and pathological conditions.

Keywords: Brain; Cell-cell communication; Exosomes; Neurodegenerative diseases.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Brain / pathology*
Brain / physiology*
Cell Communication
Exosomes / pathology*
Exosomes / physiology*
Humans

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31871082, 91849101, 81601221), The Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB39000000), Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of CAS (QYZDB-SSW-SMC035), the Innovative Program of Development Foundation of Hefei Center for Physical Science and Technology (2018CXFX005), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M662178). The Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Tea Plant Biology and Utilization (SKLTOF20150101)