Type I collagen hydrogels as a delivery matrix for royal jelly derived extracellular vesicles.

Type I collagen hydrogels as a delivery matrix for royal jelly derived extracellular vesicles. Drug Deliv. 2020 Dec;27(1):1308-1318 Authors: Ramírez OJ, Alvarez S, Contreras-Kallens P, Barrera NP, Aguayo S, Schuh CMAP Abstract Throughout the last decade, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have become increasingly popular in several areas of regenerative medicine. Recently, Apis mellifera royal jelly EVs (RJ EVs) were shown to display favorable wound healing properties such as stimulation of mesenchymal stem cell migration and inhibition of staphylococcal biofilms. However, the sustained and effective local delivery of EVs in non-systemic approaches - such as patches for chronic cutaneous wounds - remains an important challenge for the development of novel EV-based wound healing therapies. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the suitability of type I collagen -a well-established biomaterial for wound healing - as a continuous delivery matrix. RJ EVs were integrated into collagen gels at different concentrations, where gels containing 2 mg/ml collagen were found to display the most stable release kinetics. Functionality of released RJ EVs was confirmed by assessing fibroblast EV uptake and migration in a wound healing assay. We could demonstrate reliable EV uptake into fibroblasts with a sustained pro-migratory effect for up to 7 d. Integrating fibroblasts into the RJ EV-containing collagen gel increased the contractile capacit...
Source: Drug Delivery - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Tags: Drug Deliv Source Type: research