Development of Artificial Plasma Membranes Derived Nanovesicles Suitable for Drugs Encapsulation

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are considered as promising nanoparticles theranostic tools in many physiological and pathological contexts. The increasing clinical employment of therapeutic nanoparticles is contributing to the development of a new research area related to the design of artificial EVs. To this aim, different approaches have been described to develop mimetic biologically functional nanovescicles. In this paper, we suggest a simplified procedure to generate plasma membranes-derived nanovesicles with the possibility to efficiently encapsulate different drugs during their spontaneously assembly. After physical and molecular characterization by Tunable Resistive Pulse Sensing (TRPS) technology, transmission electron microscopy and flow cytometry, as a proof of principle, we have loaded into mimetic EVs the isoquinoline alkaloid Berberine chloride, the chemotherapy compounds Temozolomide or Givinostat. We demonstrated the fully functionality of these nanoparticles in drugs encapsulation and cell delivery, showing, in particular, similar cytotoxic effect of direct cell culture administration of the anticancer drugs. In conclusion, we have documented the possibility to easily generate scalable nanovesicles with specific therapeutic cargo modifications useful in different drugs delivery contexts.