Nanovesicles from plant cells as a new challenge in drug delivery systems

Background: Recently, pharmaceutical technology linked to drug delivery is making great strides, in fact, the success of therapy is now closely related to the delivery system of bioactive compounds. In the field of drug delivery, nanovesicles of biological origin seem to be the most promising, and certainly, plant-derived nanovesicles are one of the most studied actors. Plant-derived nanovesicles are usually obtained by more or less strong homogenization of vegetable matrices and subsequent purification. Here we proposed a new method for the recovery of actively secreted plant-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) from the culture medium. Aim: Our research aims to build a biotechnological platform based on plant matrices for the production of nanovesicles suitable for drug delivery. Methods: Plant cells derived from the enzymatic degradation of the cell wall of tobacco leaves and cauliflower were isolated and cultured in a suitable liquid culture medium. The culture liquid was harvested every day for three days and subjected to differential centrifugations to purify secreted extracellular vesicles. The samples obtained were analyzed both with nanoparticle tracking assay and transmission electron microscope. Finally, the purified EVs were used in an in vitro assay to evaluate anti-inflammatory properties. Preliminary Results: Preliminary experiments demonstrate that tobacco and cauliflower cells actively release EVs-like particles in the extracellular space. Furthermore, functional experiments carried out on activated THP-1 cells showed that the mere presence of nanovesicles of plant origin has a positive effect leading to the reduction of inflammatory cytokine expression These results suggest a possible use of nanovesicles extracted from cell culture media in the medical field. Conclusions: Nanovesicles of vegetable origin can represent an alternative to those of animal or synthetic origin in drug delivery technology. Pathogens that attack plants are unable to infect humans and therefore pharmaceutical preparations using plant cells are safe and less expensive to produce.