Testing exosomes as a treatment for posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus.

Abstract

Germinal matrix hemorrhages and intraventricular hemorrhages (GMH/IVH) lead to posthemorrhagic hydrocephalus (PHH), a severe cause of morbidity and mortality in premature neonates. GMH/IVH disrupts the ependyma, which forms a physical and functional barrier between the brain parenchyma and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF circulation and physiology is also affected by ependyma disruption. Thus, ependyma is a key target when designing PHH treatments. Despite this, hydrocephalus treatments are surgical and focused on alleviating ventricular pressure by draining CSF. No therapy is currently aimed to recover the ependyma. Nevertheless, bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are known to be great agents when dealing with inflammation. Also, exosomes have proven to be promising tools when designing anti-inflammatory treatments. Therefore, gaining insight in the treating capabilities of MSCs exosomes in PHH can be valuable.

Results Differential effects in edema progression and ependymal cells ciliogenesis are found when analyzing treatments with conditioned and non-conditioned exosomes in moderate PHH and severe PHH.