Milk-Derived Small Extracellular Vesicles Promote Recovery of Intestinal Damage by Accelerating Intestinal Stem Cell-Mediated Epithelial Regeneration

Scope Milk-derived small extracellular vesicles (M-sEVs) are critical bioactive components in milk. They are considered to be regulators in milk that may have promising applications. Understanding their biological effects would be important in nutrition. Intestinal organoids and mice are used to explore the effects of M-sEVs on intestinal regeneration. Methods and results M-sEVs could be absorbed by intestinal epithelia and upregulate expression of the microRNAs (miRNAs) expressed in milk: miR-148a, miR-22, miR-30, and miR-29a. Interestingly, M-sEVs promote proliferation of intestinal epithelia and repairs the epithelial damage that is caused by tumor necrosis factor-alpha in intestinal organoids. M-sEVs ameliorate intestinal mucosa damage in mice caused by treatment with dextran sulfate sodium, as well as increasing expression of the intestinal stem cells (ISC) markers leucine-rich repeat containing G-protein-coupled receptor 5 (Lgr5), olfactomedin 4 (Olfm4), and Achaete-Scute Family BHLH Transcription Factor 2 (Ascl2) and stimulating intestinal epithelial proliferation to repair epithelial damage. Furthermore, miR-29 is more abundant in M-sEVs-treated mice, and miR-29 could upregulate expression of ISC marker genes and accelerates intestinal regeneration to recover damaged intestinal epithelia. Conclusions We reveal that M-sEVs and miR-29 can accelerate intestinal stem cell-mediated epithelial regeneration and repair epithelial damage.