Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Jan 26, 2020; 12(1): 1-7
Published online Jan 26, 2020. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v12.i1.1
Adipose stromal/stem cells in regenerative medicine: Potentials and limitations
Leandra Santos Baptista
Leandra Santos Baptista, Multidisciplinary Center for Biological Research (Numpex-Bio), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Campus Duque de Caxias, Duque de Caxias, RJ 25245-390, Brazil
Leandra Santos Baptista, Post-graduate Program in Biotechnology, National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO), Duque de Caxias, RJ 25250-020, Brazil
Leandra Santos Baptista, Post-graduate Program in Translational Biomedicine (Biotrans), Unigranrio, Campus I, Duque de Caxias, Duque de Caxias, RJ 25250-020, Brazil
Leandra Santos Baptista, Laboratory of Tissue Bioengineering, Directory of Metrology Applied to Life Sciences, National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO), Duque de Caxias, RJ 25250-020, Brazil
Author contributions: Baptista LS drafted the article, contributed to the conception and design of the manuscript, wrote the manuscript and approved the final version of the article.
Supported by the Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), No. E-26/202.682/2018.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The author declares no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Leandra Santos Baptista, PhD, Associate Professor, Laboratory of Tissue Bioengineering, Directory of Metrology Applied to Life Sciences, National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO), Duque de Caxias, RJ 25250-020, Brazil. leandrabaptista@xerem.ufrj.br
Received: June 4, 2019
Peer-review started: June 5, 2019
First decision: August 1,2019
Revised: October 11, 2019
Accepted: November 14, 2019
Article in press: November 14, 2019
Published online: January 26, 2020
Abstract

This article presents the stem and progenitor cells from subcutaneous adipose tissue, briefly comparing them with their bone marrow counterparts, and discussing their potential for use in regenerative medicine. Subcutaneous adipose tissue differs from other mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) sources in that it contains a pre-adipocyte population that dwells in the adventitia of robust blood vessels. Pre-adipocytes are present both in the stromal-vascular fraction (SVF; freshly isolated cells) and in the adherent fraction of adipose stromal/stem cells (ASCs; in vitro expanded cells), and have an active role on the chronic inflammation environment established in obesity, likely due their monocytic-macrophage lineage identity. The SVF and ASCs have been explored in cell therapy protocols with relative success, given their paracrine and immunomodulatory effects. Importantly, the widely explored multipotentiality of ASCs has direct application in bone, cartilage and adipose tissue engineering. The aim of this editorial is to reinforce the peculiarities of the stem and progenitor cells from subcutaneous adipose tissue, revealing the spheroids as a recently described biotechnological tool for cell therapy and tissue engineering. Innovative cell culture techniques, in particular 3D scaffold-free cultures such as spheroids, are now available to increase the potential for regeneration and differentiation of mesenchymal lineages. Spheroids are being explored not only as a model for cell differentiation, but also as powerful 3D cell culture tools to maintain the stemness and expand the regenerative and differentiation capacities of mesenchymal cell lineages.

Keywords: Mesenchymal stromal/stem cells, Subcutaneous adipose tissue, Stromal-vascular fraction, Adipose stromal/stem cells, Regenerative medicine, Cell therapy, Tissue engineering, Spheroids

Core tip: Adipose tissue, notably subcutaneous, has a population of CD34-positive progenitor cells functionally known as pre-adipocytes. The pre-adipocytes have molecular and functional identities with the monocytic-macrophagic lineage and are altered in metabolic diseases such as obesity. To what extent will new 3D tools in cell culture, such as spheroids, be able to overcome the limitations imposed by 2D monolayer culture and unravel dormant capabilities of adipose stromal/stem cells?