Accelerated Wound Healing in Healing-Impaired db/db Mice by Autologous Adipose Tissue-Derived Stromal Cells Combined With Atelocollagen Matrix

Adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ATSCs) have recently gained widespread attention as a potential alternate source to bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells with a proliferative capacity and a similar ability to undergo multilineage differentiation. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of freshly isolated autologous ATSCs-containing atelocollagen matrix with silicon membrane (ACMS) on wound healing of diabetic (db/db) mice. Cultured ATSCs from (db/db) mice secreted significant amounts of growth factors and cytokines, which are suitable for wound repair. Two full thickness round skin defects were made on the backs of healing-impaired db/db mice. Freshly isolated autologous ATSCs-containing ACMS or ACMS alone were applied to the wounds. Twelve mice were treated and then killed at 1 or 2 weeks (n = 6 each). Histologic sections of the wounds were prepared at each time period after treatment. Histologic examination demonstrated significantly advanced granulation tissue formation, capillary formation, and epithelialization in diabetic healing-impaired wounds treated with autologous ATSCs-containing ACMS, compared with mice treated with ACMS alone. These results suggested that transplantation of autologous ATSCs-containing ACMS significantly accelerated wound healing in diabetic healing-impaired db/db mice.