Research progress of plant-derived extracellular vesicles and their application in drug delivery systems

Plant-derived extracellular vesicles are a kind of nanoscale vesicles with lipid bilayer membrane structure actively secreted by plant cells. As important media for intercellular communication in plants, extracellular vesicles are rich in a variety of biologically active molecules, including nucleic acids, proteins and lipids, and play key roles in intercellular material transport and information transmission. Due to excellent biocompatibility, low immunogenicity and natural cross-species delivery ability, plant-derived extracellular vesicles have become an ideal choice for new drug delivery carriers, which can efficiently load nucleic acid drugs, protein preparations and hydrophobic drug molecules. In recent years, with the rapid development of nanomedicine technology, the application of plant-derived extracellular vesicles in targeted drug delivery systems has made significant progress. This review systematically summarizes the separation and purification technology, stability, targeting, drug loading strategy of plant-derived extracellular vesicles and their latest application results as drug delivery carriers, in order to provide theoretical reference for related research.