Extracellular Vesicles from iPSC-Derived Glial Progenitor Cells Prevent Glutamate-Induced Excitotoxicity by Stabilising Calcium Oscillations and Mitochondrial Depolarisation

Neurodegenerative diseases pose a significant challenge to modern medicine. Despite significant advances in neurology, current therapeutic approaches often prove insufficient to treat such disorders. This study investigates the neuroprotective effect of extracellular vesicles derived from glial derivates of human-induced pluripotent stem cells. The extracellular vesicle’s cargo was characterised by proteomic analysis. The neuroprotective effect was assessed using a model of glutamate excitotoxicity performed on a primary culture of cortical neuroglial cells. The viability of cells was estimated using the MTT test and morphometric analyses. A comprehensive methodology was applied to investigate intracellular mechanisms, integrating assessments of intracellular calcium concentrations, mitochondrial membrane potential, and targeted inhibition of the PI3K-Akt pathway. Transcriptomic analysis of neuroglial cultures was used to validate the role of obtained mechanisms of extracellular vesicle’s neuroprotective effect. The obtaining results demonstrated the improvement of neuronal survival by reducing intracellular calcium levels and stabilising mitochondrial membrane potential under glutamate-induced excitotoxicity via PI3K-Akt signalling pathway activation. Moreover, the vesicles contained proteins that contribute to preventing apoptotic processes, activating regeneration of the nervous system, and modulating calcium ion transport and are associated with redox processes. Further transcriptomic analyses of neuroglial cultures treated with EVs showed an up-regulation of genes associated with regeneration, inhibition of calcium ion transport, regulation of membrane depolarisation, and negative regulation of apoptotic pathways.