Engineered exosomes enriched in netrin-1 modRNA promote axonal growth in spinal cord injury by attenuating inflammation and pyroptosis

BACKGROUND: Spinal cord injury (SCI) brings a heavy burden to individuals and society, and there is no effective treatment at present. Exosomes (EX) are cell secreted vesicles containing molecules such as nucleic acids and proteins, which hold promise for the treatment of SCI. Netrin-1 is an axon guidance factor that regulates neuronal growth. We investigated the effects of engineered EX enriched in netrin-1 chemically synthetic modified message RNA (modRNA) in treating SCI in an attempt to find a novel therapeutic approach for SCI. METHODS: Netrin-1 modRNA was transfected into bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells to obtain EX enriched with netrin-1 (EX-netrin1). We built an inflammatory model in vitro with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro to study the therapeutic effect of EX-netrin1 on SCI. For experiments in vitro, ELISA, CCK-8 assay, immunofluorescence staining, lactate dehydrogenase release experiments test, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, and western blot were conducted. At the same time, we constructed a rat model of SCI. MRI, hematoxylin-eosin and Nissl staining were used to assess the extent of SCI in rats. RESULTS: In vitro experiments showed that EX had no effect on the viability of oligodendrocytes and PC12 cells. EX-netrin1 could attenuate LPS-induced inflammation and pyroptosis and accelerate axonal/dentritic growth in PC12 cells/oligodendrocytes. In addition, netrin-1 could activate the PI3K/AKT/mTOR signalling pathway upon binding to its receptor unc5b. When Unc5b and PI3K were inhibited, the effect of EX-netrin1 was weakened, which could be reversed by PI3K or mTOR activator. Our in vivo experiments indicated that EX-netrin1 could promote recovery in rats with SCI. CONCLUSION: We found that EX-netrin1 regulated inflammation, pyroptosis and axon growth in SCI via the Unc5b/PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway, which provides a new strategy for the treatment of SCI. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40824-023-00339-0.