Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal/Stem Cells: Tissue Localization, Characterization, and Heterogeneity

Abstract

Adipose tissue as a stem cell source is ubiquitously available and has several advantages compared to other sources. It is easily accessible in large quantities with minimal invasive harvesting procedure, and isolation of adipose-derived mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (ASCs) yields a high amount of stem cells, which is essential for stem-cell-based therapies and tissue engineering. Several studies have provided evidence that ASCs in situ reside in a perivascular niche, whereas the exact localization of ASCs in native adipose tissue is still under debate. ASCs are isolated by their capacity to adhere to plastic. Nevertheless, recent isolation and culture techniques lack standardization. Cultured cells are characterized by their expression of characteristic markers and their capacity to differentiate into cells from meso-, ecto-, and entodermal lineages. ASCs possess a high plasticity and differentiate into various cell types, including adipocytes, osteoblasts, chondrocytes, myocytes, hepatocytes, neural cells, and endothelial and epithelial cells. Nevertheless, recent studies suggest that ASCs are a heterogeneous mixture of cells containing subpopulations of stem and more committed progenitor cells. This paper summarizes and discusses the current knowledge of the tissue localization of ASCs in situ, their characterization and heterogeneity in vitro, and the lack of standardization in isolation and culture methods.

Adipose mesenchymal stromal cells minimize and repair radiation-induced oral mucositis

“…CD11b and CD45) [74][75][76]. In addition to their multilineage differentiation potential, aMSCs have anti-inflammatory/immune-modulatory and paracrine effects [55][56][57][58][59][60].…”

“…Sca1, CD106, CD105, CD73, CD29, and CD44, and lack the expression of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) surface antigens (e.g. CD11b and CD45) [74][75][76]. They have antiinflammatory/immunomodulatory and paracrine effects as well.…”

Adipose tissue-derived stem cells show considerable promise for regenerative medicine applications

“…Unfortunately, standardized techniques for their isolation and cultivation have not yet been developed [12]. ADSCs are mainly extracted from tissue removed during cosmetic liposuction, using a mixture of saline, epinephrine and lidocaine.…”

“…ADSCs have great potential for differentiation into cells of mesodermal origin, such as adipocytes, osteoblasts, chondrocytes, myocytes and cardiomyocytes. Studies using in vitro conditions demonstrated their high plasticity and ability to differentiate into cells of ectodermal origin (neurons, oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells) and endodermal origin (pancreatic beta cells, hepatocytes and epithelial cells) [3,4,11,12]. The latest reports have extended our knowledge of the differentiation capability of ADSCs to include various types of epithelial cell, such as renal tubular epithelial cells and retinal pigment epithelial cells [8].…”

Strategies for Bioengineered Scaffolds that Support Adipose Stem Cells in Regenerative Therapies

“…ASCs share many similarities with BM-MSCs including their potential to develop into similar cell lineages and have no clear distinction between the populations in terms of surface marker or gene expression [16,[20][21][22][23]. It has been suggested that ASCs can be distinguished from BM-MSCs by their expression of CD36 (F.A.T.…”