Development of ginger-derived extracellular vesicles thermosensitive gel for UVA-induced photodamage of skin

Due to an increase in outdoor activities, UV radiation exposure has grown recently, leading to an increase in the occurrence of illnesses associated to photodamage. The necessity of developing skin photodamage restoration technology has drawn attention. Herein, a temperature-sensitive gel was designed to load ginger-derived extracellular vesicles (gEVs) for UVA-induced skin inflammatory injury. Traditional medicine has used ginger extracts as natural therapeutic agents, however, no study has looked into how gEVs might be used in drug development or regenerative medicine. The average particle size of gEVs purified by sucrose density gradient centrifugation was 231.20 ± 25.30 nm, with a tea leaf-like structure and discriminative features. The proliferative and migratory effects of gEVs on epithelial and dermal fibroblast cells were demonstrated. The protective effect of gEVs on in vitro photodamage model was investigated, based on its potent performance in antioxidant capacity that gEVs pretreated cells had a good inhibitory effect on cell viability, UVA-induced apoptosis and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The targeted treatment of specific skin injury sites can be realized by temperature-sensitive gel. The optimal prescription of gel was P407 22.5% and P188 4% screened by gelling temperature and time. The gel with more than 75% water content and 50 μm porous diameter can provide a transient extracellular matrix for cell adhesion and penetration, and well support the gEVs. Within three days, the 12.5% and 25.0% gEVs@Gel exhibited a mending role by gradually releasing 37.4 ± 4.5% and 48.7 ± 2.9% gEVs, respectively. Overall, this study has proposed a novel approach to inflammatory skin healing that may serve as a safe substitute for UVA-induced skin photodamage. [Display omitted] •The first attempt to utilize ginger-derived extracellular vehicles to promote the proliferation and migration of skin cells as well as to treat skin lesions caused by UVA radiation.•Proof that ginger-derived extracellular vehicles have good repair effects in vitro models of skin injury.•The preparation of thermosensitive gel was customized to fit the skin morphology, providing extracellular matrix for the injured part, well loading ginger-derived extracellular vehicles, and achieving dose-controlled release.•A new approach to prevent skin photodamage and facilitates skin injury repair.