Spinal cord injury alters microRNA and CD81+ exosome levels in plasma extracellular nanoparticles with neuroinflammatory potential.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been implicated mechanistically in the pathobiology of neurodegenerative disorders, including central nervous system injury. However, the role of EVs in spinal cord injury (SCI) has received limited attention to date. Moreover, technical limitations related to EV isolation and characterization methods can lead to misleading or contradictory findings. Here, we examined changes in plasma EVs after mouse SCI at multiple timepoints (1d, 3d, 7d, 14d) using complementary measurement techniques. Plasma EVs isolated by ultracentrifugation (UC) were decreased at 1d post-injury, as shown by nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), and paralleled an overall reduction in total plasma extracellular nanoparticles. Western blot (WB) analysis of UC-derived plasma EVs revealed increased expression of the tetraspanin exosome marker, CD81, between 1d and 7d post-injury. To substantiate these findings, we performed interferometric and fluorescence imaging of single, tetraspanin EVs captured directly from plasma with ExoView®. Consistent with WB, we observed significantly increased plasma CD81+ EV count and cargo at 1d post-injury. The majority of these tetraspanin EVs were smaller than 50 nm based on interferometry and were insufficiently resolved by flow cytometry-based detection. At the injury site, there was enhanced expression of EV biogenesis proteins that were also detected in EVs directly isolated from spinal cord tissue by WB. Surface expression of tetraspanins CD9 and CD63 increased in multiple cell types at the injury site; however, astrocyte CD81 expression uniquely decreased, as demonstrated by flow cytometry. UC-isolated plasma EV microRNA cargo was also significantly altered at 1d post-injury with changes similar to that reported in EVs released by astrocytes after inflammatory stimulation. When injected into the lateral ventricle, plasma EVs from SCI mice increased both pro- and anti-inflammatory gene as well as reactive astrocyte gene expression in the brain cortex. These studies provide the first detailed characterization of plasma EV dynamics after SCI and suggest that plasma EVs may be involved in posttraumatic brain inflammation.