Exploiting the Opportunity to Use Plant-Derived Nanoparticles as Delivery Vehicles

Vincenza Tinnirello; Nima Rabienezhad Ganji; Carine De Marcos Lousa; Riccardo Alessandro; Stefania Raimondo

doi:10.3390/plants12061207

Exploiting the Opportunity to Use Plant-Derived Nanoparticles as Delivery Vehicles

Plants (Basel). 2023 Mar 7;12(6):1207. doi: 10.3390/plants12061207.

Authors

Vincenza Tinnirello¹, Nima Rabienezhad Ganji¹, Carine De Marcos Lousa^{2

3}, Riccardo Alessandro¹, Stefania Raimondo¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostics (Bi.N.D), Section of Biology and Genetics, University of Palermo, 90133 Palermo, Italy.
² Biomedical Sciences, School of Health, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds LS1 3HE, UK.
³ Centre for Plant Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds LS1 3HE, UK.

Abstract

The scientific community has become increasingly interested in plant-derived nanoparticles (PDNPs) over the past ten years. Given that they possess all the benefits of a drug carrier, including non-toxicity, low immunogenicity, and a lipid bilayer that protects its content, PDNPs are a viable model for the design of innovative delivery systems. In this review, a summary of the prerequisites for mammalian extracellular vesicles to serve as delivery vehicles will be given. After that, we will concentrate on providing a thorough overview of the studies investigating the interactions of plant-derived nanoparticles with mammalian systems as well as the loading strategies for encapsulating therapeutic molecules. Finally, the existing challenges in establishing PDNPs as reliable biological delivery systems will be emphasized.

Keywords: co-incubation; drug delivery; microRNA; plant-derived nanoparticles (PDNPs); sonication.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the European Union NextGenerationEU—funds MUR D.M. 737/2021—research project “Effetti anti-infiammatori e vasoprotettivi di vescicole extracellulari isolate da piante”, EUROSTART, UNIPA, D.R. 698/2022 to Stefania Raimondo. Stefania Raimondo was supported by PON “Ricerca e Innovazione” 2014–2020-Azione 1.2 “Mobilità dei Ricercatori”-AIM “Attraction and International Mobility”. Vincenza Tinnirello is PhD student in Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostics (XXXVII cycle). Nima Rabienezhad Ganji is a PhD student in Oncology and Experimental Surgery (XXXV cycle), University of Palermo.