Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 17, 2025

Bronchoalveolar Lavage Exosomes in Lipopolysaccharide-induced Septic Lung Injury
Published on: May 21, 2018
Inhalable exosomes outperform liposomes as mRNA and protein drug carriers to the lung
Kristen D Popowski1,2, Blanca López de Juan Abad1, Arianna George3,4
1Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27607, USA.
Abstract:
Respiratory diseases are among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide, coupled with the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. mRNA lipid nanoparticle (LNP) vaccines have been developed, but their intramuscular delivery limits pulmonary bioavailability. Inhalation of nanoparticle therapeutics offers localized drug delivery that minimizes off targeted adverse effects and has greater patient compliance. However, LNP platforms require extensive reformulation for inhaled delivery. Lung-derived extracellular vesicles (Lung-Exo) offer a biological nanoparticle alternative that is naturally optimized for mRNA translation and delivery to pulmonary cells. We compared the biodistribution of Lung-Exo against commercially standard biological extracellular vesicles (HEK-Exo) and LNPs (Lipo), where Lung-Exo exhibited superior mRNA and protein cargo distribution to and retention in the bronchioles and parenchyma following nebulization administration. This suggests that inhaled Lung-Exo can deliver mRNA and protein drugs with enhanced pulmonary bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Overview of Exosomes
Stahl et al. discovered exosomes in 1983, but the exosomes were initially considered waste products released from the...
Inhaled Medications
Drug Delivery: Miscellaneous Routes
Oral inhalation and nasal sprays swiftly transfer drugs across the respiratory epithelium's mucosal layer. Inhaled glucocorticoids and bronchodilators directly target lung conditions such as asthma, while fluticasone nasal spray mitigates allergic rhinitis.
Transdermal patches transport drugs...
Drug Excretion: Pulmonary and Glandular Routes
Drugs can also be excreted in breast milk, which is crucial for breastfeeding infants. The...
Additional Routes of Drug Administration
Administering drugs via inhalation allows for the direct delivery of gaseous, volatile substances or droplets to different parts of the respiratory tract. One of the advantages of the inhalation route is the rapid absorption of drugs into the circulatory system, which is possible because of the large surface area of...

