Adipose Derived Stem Cells and Smooth Muscle Cells: Implications for Regenerative Medicine

Abstract

The treatment of chronic wounds and other damaged tissues and organs remains a difficult task, in spite of greater adherence to recognised standards of care and a better understanding of pathophysiologic principles. Adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs), with their proliferative and impressive differentiation potential, may be used in the future in autologous cell therapy or grafting to replace damaged tissues. At this point in time, transplanted tissues are often rejected by the body. Autologous grafting would eliminate this problem. ADSCs are able to differentiate into a number of cells in vitro, for example smooth muscle cells (SMCs), when treated with lineage specific factors. SMCs play a key role in physiology and pathology as they form the principle layer of all SMC tissues. Smooth muscle biopsies are often impractical and morbid, and often lead to a low cell harvest. It has also been shown that SMCs derived from a diseased organ can lead to abnormal cells. Therefore, there is a great need for alternative sources of healthy SMCs. The use of ADSCs for cell-based tissue engineering (TE) represents a promising alternative for smooth muscle repair. This review discusses the potential uses of ADSCs and SMCs in regenerative medicine, and the potential of ADSCs to be differentiated into functional SMCs for TE and regenerative cellular therapies to repair diseased organs.

Once fat was fat and that was that : our changing perspectives on adipose tissue

“…Such cells have already been used to correct cranial defects in humans, 119 and preliminary studies in man to rectify cardiovascular 134,135 and soft tissue [136][137][138] defects hold hope for the future use of ADSCs in the treatment of muscle and cartilage defects and heart infarcts. However, before this becomes a reality, there are a number of technical problems that need to be overcome.…”

Inducing stem cell differentiation using low intensity laser irradiation: a possible novel therapeutic intervention

“…ADSCs and BMSCs have comparable immuneregulatory properties such as inhibition of the proliferation and cytokine secretion of human primary T cells in response to mitogens and allogenic T cells (1, 2); alternatively fluorescent identification of different cell types followed by CSC targeted therapy or finally cytotoxic CSC specific therapy (3,4). These therapies are all currently theoretical and require extensive knowledge of SC pathways and genomic instability to prevent resistance.…”

“…ADSCs are, however, more easily accessible and available as well as having significant potential to proliferate and differentiate in culture [4]. The CSC theory has focussed attention of researchers on using models of malignancy which include tumours characterized by heterogenous cell populations.…”

“…Cell based therapies that combine biomaterials, SCs and bioactive agents have identified the benefit that a constant source of autologous SCs with multipotential can offer [4]. Despite almost 30 years of extensive research on bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) for potential use in regenerative medicine, low cell number, pain and morbidity upon cell harvest still hamper their effective use.…”

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

“…Similar results were discovered in induced myocardial infarction in pigs. Applying autologous ADSCs into the coronary vessels led to a major improvement in the functioning of the left ventricle in the affected area and led to an increase in the number of blood vessels in the regenerated tissue over the course of one month [24]. The results of the research carried out on animals give hope for the possibility of using ADSCs in the near future in the treatment of heart diseases in humans.…”