• Changwei Yang, Tao Xu, Yang Lu, Jianhang Liu, Cheng Chen, Heng Wang, and Xiaoqing Chen.
• Department of Orthopedics, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Medical School of Nantong University, Nantong 226001, China.
• Neuroscience. 2024 Aug 6; 552: 142814-28.

AbstractFollowing spinal cord injury, the inflammatory environment at the injury site causes local microglia and astrocytes to activate, which worsens the nerve damage in the affected area. Quercetin, an anti-inflammatory agent, has been limited in spinal cord injury due to its poor water solubility and easy degradation. Stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles can go through the blood-brain barrier and are an ideal drug delivery system. In this study, umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles were used to load quercetin to prevent its degradation and allow it to accumulate at the site of spinal cord injury. Our results showed that quercetin-loaded extracellular vesicles could inhibit the activation of microglia to M1 phenotype through the TLR4/NF-κB pathway, and the activation of astrocytes to A1 phenotype through the JAK2/STAT3 pathway. This reduced the production of inflammatory factors, mitigated neuronal damage, and inhibited the growth of astroglial scar, but promoted the recovery of motor function in rats with spinal cord injury.Copyright © 2024 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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