Exosomes in neurologic and psychiatric disorders

The purposes of this review were to discuss the role of exosomes in neurologic and psychiatric diseases and to propose future therapeutic approaches.

PubMed was searched (2000-2014) using the terms exosomes, microvesicles, neurological disorders, psychiatric disorders, multivesicular bodies, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, prion disease, multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia, glioblastoma multiforme, and flavonoids.

Many cells of the nervous system have been reported to release exosomes that could have an active role in the function, development, and diseases of the CNS, such as Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, prion diseases, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, and schizophrenia. In all of these diseases, exosomes are involved in the spread of "toxic" proteins that are mutated or "misfolded" and serve as templates for the formation of disease-producing oligomers.

Exosomes' simple structure and abilities to be incorporated into plasma membrane and to cross the blood-brain barrier allow for the opportunity to utilize them as delivery vehicles of drugs and genetic elements in the treatment of immune, psychiatric, and neurologic disorders. Flavonoids have emerged as unique, natural molecules with antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. It would, therefore, be of interest to design flavonoid-containing exosomes.