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BACKGROUND: Myocardial infarction is one of the most serious cardiovascular diseases at present, and the existing clinical treatment options such as thrombolytic therapy, percutaneous coronary intervention and coronary artery bypass grafting cannot fully restore the myocardial damage caused by ischemia. Stem cell-derived exosomes for the treatment of myocardial infarction have been a hot research topic in recent years, but the low yield of natural-derived exosomes, the difficulty and time consuming nature of obtaining them, and the poor homing effect have limited their clinical application. In this context, the construction of artificial exosomes as an alternative to natural exosomes has become an effective strategy to solve the above problems. OBJECTIVE: To expound the research status of artificial exosomes in the treatment of myocardial infarction, and classify them into two design modes: semiartificial and full-artificial, and discuss the research progress and problems of the two modes, finally, make the evaluation and prospect of its clinical application in the future. METHODS: PubMed and CNKI were searched for relevant articles with “artificial exosomes, myocardial infarction, engineering” in Chinese, and “artificial exosome, hybrid exosome, myocardial infarction, nanoparticle, drug delivery system” in English. The focus of the search was from January 2017 to December 2022, and some of the classic forward literature was included. A preliminary selection was conducted through reading titles and abstracts. Repetitive studies, low-quality journals and irrelevant articles were excluded. Finally, 73 articles were included for review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) By semi-artificially modifying exosomes, whether it is the modification of targeting peptides, hybridization of biofilms or the assistance of magnetic substances, traditional exosome therapies with insufficient targeting and low retention rate and easy to be cleared by the reticuloendothelial system have improved the efficiency of traditional exosome therapy for myocardial infarction. However, these strategies have problems such as unclear modification efficiency, medical ethics, and biotoxicity. (2) Fully artificial bionic exosomes have a higher degree of design freedom compared to exosome modification, which can solve the problems of high extraction and storage difficulties of exosomes of natural origin and limitations of large-scale production; however, this artificial exosome strategy still lacks reliable preclinical data support and biosafety testing, and has not yet formed a standardized process required for large-scale production; therefore, before applying to the clinic, the artificial exosome solution as an alternative to natural exosomes still needs continuous in-depth research by researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress plays an important role in the pathological process of osteoarthritis, leading to local inflammation and matrix degradation. Previous studies have shown that antioxidants such as quercetin and vitamin C are potential candidates for treating osteoarthritis. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether quercetin, vitamin C and desferrioxamine mesylate mixture can delay disease progression in rats with post-traumatic osteoarthritis. METHODS: The anterior cruciate ligament was cut off in 10 Sprague-Dawley rats to induce osteoarthritis. Animal models were randomized into two groups (n=5 per group). Twenty weeks after operation, 50 μL of normal saline or antioxidant mixture was slowly injected into the affected joint, once a week for 4 successive weeks. The antioxidant mixture consisted of 1 g/L dihydroxyquercetin, 30 g/L vitamin C and 200 mg/L desferrioxamine mesylate. Gait analysis was performed before treatment, 1 week and 5 weeks after treatment. Micro-CT examination and histology scoring were performed 5 weeks after treatment. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Gait analysis showed that intra-articular injection of antioxidant mixture did not improve pain-related limb laziness index (P=0.449). However, 5 weeks after treatment, the limb laziness index in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the control group (P=0.047). Five weeks after treatment, microcomputed tomography analysis showed that there was no significant difference in any parameters between the treatment group and the control group (P > 0.05). There were severe histopathological changes of osteoarthritis in both groups. The Osteoarthritis Research Society International scores showed no significant difference in both groups (P=0.382). In conclusion, intra-articular injection of antioxidant mixture containing quercetin, vitamin C and desferrioxamine does not delay the progress of osteoarthritis in patients with advanced osteoarthritis. Future studies should aim to determine whether administration of antioxidants and prolonged drug retention time in early osteoarthritis can effectively delay the progress of osteoarthritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]