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Spotlight on adipose tissue as a remarkable stem cell source for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering applications
Author(s) -
Fradette Julie
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.27.1_supplement.445.2
Subject(s) - adipose tissue , mesenchymal stem cell , stem cell , stromal vascular fraction , tissue engineering , regenerative medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , stromal cell , stem cell transplantation for articular cartilage repair , extracellular matrix , adult stem cell , ascorbic acid , biology , immunology , medicine , cancer research , endothelial stem cell , biomedical engineering , in vitro , endocrinology , biochemistry , food science
Great scientific strides have been achieved upon discovering the great plasticity of adult mesenchymal stem cells. Such stem cells can be harvested from various sources, including subcutaneous adipose tissue which represents an almost ideal cellular reservoir. Cell therapies using adipose‐derived stem/stromal cells (ASCs) are being conducted in an increasing number of clinical trials such as osteoarthristis and congestive heart failure. The other field reaping the benefits of using ASCs is tissue reconstruction. The multipotency of these cells combined with different engineering strategies result in the in vitro production of a wide variety of human tissues. My research team is using ASCs as building blocks for the production of human tissue substitutes, including adipose tissue itself and skin. They feature a rich extracellular matrix produced by the mesenchymal cells themselves upon ascorbic acid stimulation, recreating a very physiological 3D environment. The reconstructed adipose tissues are functional and secrete important cytokines and growth factors such as leptin, Ang‐1, HGF, and VEGF. This secretome is modulated in a dose‐dependent manner following exposure to the inflammatory cytokine TNFα. Also, production of reconstructed skin using ASCs allowed us to investigate the fate of epithelial stem cells in these engineered tissues, before and after grafting. Supported by CIHR and NSERC.