Adipose‐derived mesenchymal stem cells for cartilage tissue engineering: State‐of‐The‐Art in in vivo studies

Abstract

Several therapeutic approaches have been developed to address hyaline cartilage regeneration, but to date, there is no universal procedure to promote the restoration of mechanical and functional properties of native cartilage, which is one of the most important challenges in orthopedic surgery. For cartilage tissue engineering, adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are considered as an alternative cell source to chondrocytes. Since little is known about adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (ADSC) cartilage regeneration potential, the aim of this review was to give an overview of in vivo studies about the chondrogenic potential and regeneration ability of culture-expanded ADSCs when implanted in heterotopic sites or in osteoarthritic and osteochondral defects. The review compares the different studies in terms of number of implanted cells and animals, cell harvesting sites, in vitro expansion and chondrogenic induction conditions, length of experimental time, defect dimensions, used scaffolds and post-explant analyses of the cartilage regeneration. Despite variability of the in vivo protocols, it seems that good cartilage formation and regeneration were obtained with chondrogenically predifferentiated ADSCs (1 × 10(7) cells for heterotopic cartilage formation and 1 × 10(6) cells/scaffold for cartilage defect regeneration) and polymeric scaffolds, even if many other aspects need to be clarified in future studies.

Paracrine in vivo inhibitory effects of adipose tissue–derived mesenchymal stromal cells in the early stages of the acute inflammatory response

“…In addition, they are available in higher quantities and exhibit more cell homogeneity. Therefore, a number of studies have investigated the effects of AMSCs in tissue regeneration and immunomodulation [7,8].…”

Characterization of Chondrogenic Gene Expression and Cartilage Phenotype Differentiation in Human Breast Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Promoted by Ginsenoside Rg1 In Vitro

“…It is simple to expand ASCs to large numbers in vitro compared with bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (BMSCs) [14], and there is less cell heterogeneity in ASCs than BMSCs due to the mixture of hematopoietic and mesenchymal stem cells [15][16][17]. Similar to BMSCs, various studies have described the plasticity of ASCs to differentiate towards chondrocytes, osteoblasts, adipocytes, myocytes (cardiomyocytes, smooth muscle, and skeletal muscle cells) and neural phenotype cells in different inductive culture systems [18][19][20][21][22]. Although BMSCs are considered to be a valuable source for bone tissue regeneration in human diseases, the capacity of autologous BMSCs to differentiate toward functional bone-forming osteoblasts remains relatively limited for bone regeneration in vivo [23].…”

Tissue Engineering in Orthopaedics

“…However, the optimal source for MSCs is controversial at this time. The current gold standard is MSCs harvested from bone marrow aspirate; however, adipose-derived MSCs are gaining more traction in the field because of their increased availability, lower harvesting costs, and ease of expansion 37 . Amniotic fluid-derived MSCs are another intriguing source that has recently been shown to be capable of osteogenesis and chondrogenesis in small animal models 38,39 .…”