In Vitro Characterization of Adipose Stem Cells Non-Enzymatically Extracted from the Thigh and Abdomen

Abstract

Autologous fat grafting is a surgical technique in which adipose tissue is transferred from one area of the body to another, in order to reconstruct or regenerate damaged or injured tissues. Before reinjection, adipose tissue needs to be purified from blood and cellular debris to avoid inflammation and preserve the graft viability. To perform this purification, different enzymatic and mechanical methods can be used. In this study, we characterized in vitro the product of a closed automatic device based on mechanical disaggregation, named Rigenera®, focusing on two sites of adipose tissue harvesting. At first, we optimized the Rigenera® operating timing, demonstrating that 60 s of treatment allows a higher cellular yield, in terms of the cell number and growth rate. This result optimizes the mechanical disaggregation and it can increase the clinical efficiency of the final product. When comparing the extracted adipose samples from the thigh and abdomen, our results showed that the thigh provides a higher number of mesenchymal-like cells, with a faster replication rate and a higher ability to form colonies. We can conclude that by collecting adipose tissue from the thigh and treating it with the Rigenera® device for 60 s, it is possible to obtain the most efficient product.

Processing Adipose Tissue to Make it More Stable When Used for Refilling: A Morphologic and Immunohistochemistry Evaluation

“… 22 , 24 , 25 Several protocols were studied to ameliorate the initial Coleman’s procedure and achieve optimal preservation of preadipocytes and stem cells. 20 , 25 …”

“…Furthermore, even if the analysis of ASC population has not been a purpose of the present work, we can point out that a better preservation of ASC population by disaggregation and filtration procedure has been highlighted by some authors. 20 Therefore, an improvement of the preservation of ASC population in the washing/fragmenting procedure adopted in the present work could be hypothesized.…”

“…The washing and filtering/fragmenting the fat mass, allowed to obtain a more fluid mass, more manageable and ready to be inserted into recipient sites. 20 , 21 …”

Stem Cells in Autologous Microfragmented Adipose Tissue: Current Perspectives in Osteoarthritis Disease

“…Moreover, some authors have devised a “pure” system of mechanical disintegration [ 101 ] of tissues that is easy to use, less expensive and faster. This technology, called Rigenera micrografting technology, can disaggregate autologous tissue, with a calibrated size of 80 mm, collecting autologous micrografts enriched in progenitor cells, growth factors, and particles of ECM, by in vitro studies [ 84 , 102 ]. Some authors have performed comparative analyses between different mechanical and enzymatic systems.…”

Adipose Micro-Grafts Enhance Tendinopathy Healing in Ovine Model: An in Vivo Experimental Perspective Study

“…1394/2007) state that only minimal cell manipulation is acceptable in a clinical context, thus precluding the use of enzymatic methods, especially in human trials. 47 , 48 In line with these constrictions, companies have devised automatic closed devices appertaining to mechanical procedures 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 to isolate the stromal vascular fraction (SVF), which comprise ASCs, mesenchymal and endothelial progenitor cells, leukocytes, and pericytes. Adipose tissue can be mechanically destroyed obtaining autologous micro‐grafts (AAMG).…”