RESUMO
BACKGROUND: In the past few years, many studies have shown that mesenchymal stem cells play roles in tissue repair and regeneration, which is to a large extent by their paracrine effect. As one of the important paracrine factors, exosomes have become an issue of concern for researchers. OBJECTIVE: To explain the components, sources and biological characteristics of exosomes, to summarize the latest research advances of mesenchymal stem cells derived exosomes in tissue repair and regeneration, and to make prospects of its application in the field of oral medicine. METHODS: A computer-based search of the relevant literature in CNKI and PubMed full-text databases of journals from 1983 to 2017 was performed. The keywords were "exosome, MSC-exosomes, tissue repair and regeneration, oral diseases" in Chinese and English, respectively. Totally 61 eligible articles were included in the result analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Exosome is a vesicle secreted by cells and contains different proteins and RNAs. It plays an important role in the intercellular communication, and has the functions of inhibiting apoptosis, stimulating proliferation and regulating immunity. Mesenchymal stem cells derived exosomes play an important role in repairing bone injury, skin injury, nerve injury and liver injury, but its mechanism is yet unclear. The application of exosomes in the field of oral medicine is rarely reported, which is certainly worthy of further research and exploration.