What are Exosomes?
You might have heard buzz around the new vehicle taking the aesthetics and regenerative medicine world by storm. Exosomes are being touted as the “next big thing.” But what exactly are they, and what do we know about how they work?
What is an Exosome?
Think of exosomes are little envelopes or messengers that get things into the cells. Exosomes are vesicles, made up of a lipid bilayer. Imagine a bubble filled with whatever ingredients you want - nucleic acids, fats, or proteins.
The fatty double-layer the exosome is what also makes up our cell walls, so these vehicles are perfectly primed to travel an act as cell-signalers. In fact, our body uses exosomes for this purpose already. They play a pivotal role cell-to-cell communication, including in tissue repair and blood vessel formation.
How Are They Used?
The advantage of exosomes in the aesthetics world is that they may represent the perfect delivery system for cosmetic ingredients. You can encapsulate growth factors or antioxidants to try delivery them to target tissues. The lipid bilayer allows them to potentially penetrate deep into the skin.
Beyond being drug carriers, exosomes may be used as drugs themsevles. The use of stem cell exosomes has been an emerging field in cosmetic dermatology, with researchers exploring its use in skin ageing and scar formation.
What is the Evidence?
This is an area of great research interest, but we are still in the infancy of the science around exosomes. A recent review summarised the data from the current studies, and while it was found that exosomes are safe for human skin, there is no clear data on the long-term use for either skin rejuvenation or hair restoration. They authors concluded that more clinical studies with proper regulatory oversight was needed.
See our summary slideshow below:
References
Shen X, Song S, Chen N, Liao J, Zeng L. Stem cell-derived exosomes: A supernova in cosmetic dermatology. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2021 Dec;20(12):3812-3817. doi: 10.1111/jocd.14438. Epub 2021 Sep 18. PMID: 34536054.
Vu NB, Nguyen HT, Palumbo R, Pellicano R, Fagoonee S, Pham PV. Stem cell-derived exosomes for wound healing: current status and promising directions. Minerva Med. 2021 Jun;112(3):384-400. doi: 10.23736/S0026-4806.20.07205-5. Epub 2020 Dec 2. PMID: 33263376.
Vyas KS, Kaufman J, Munavalli GS, Robertson K, Behfar A, Wyles SP. Exosomes: the latest in regenerative aesthetics. Regenerative Medicine. 2023 Feb;18(2):181-94.
Wu JY, Wu SN, Zhang LP, Zhao XS, Li Y, Yang QY, Yuan RY, Liu JL, Mao HJ, Zhu NW. Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes: A New Method for Reversing Skin Aging. Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2022 Oct;19(5):961-968. doi: 10.1007/s13770-022-00461-5. Epub 2022 Jul 9. PMID: 35809187; PMCID: PMC9477989.
You might have seen it all over the media recently - the EU is apparently banning retinol?! What is going on?
Well don't panic - retinol isn't disappearing completely! Instead, there are new rules that are going to regulate its percentages in cosmetic, over-the-counter products - and this does not apply to the use of these vitamin A derivatives (prescription retinoids) by healthcare professionals.
So let’s explore what’s happening.