Overview
- Texas A&M researchers report that a nasal spray of extracellular vesicles from human neural stem cells reduced age-linked inflammation in the hippocampus of mice.
- The two-dose treatment improved memory in object recognition tests within weeks, and the benefits lasted for months.
- The vesicles deliver microRNAs that quiet key inflammatory pathways, including the NLRP3 inflammasome and the cGAS–STING system.
- Intranasal dosing lets the particles reach brain tissue without surgery and also restored the energy-making mitochondria in brain cells.
- The study appears in the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, and the team has filed a U.S. patent while calling for more preclinical work before any tests in people.