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The use of stem cells for cell-based tissue-engineering strategies represents a promising alternative for the repair of cartilaginous defects. The multilineage potential of a population of putative mesodermal stem cells obtained from human lipoaspirates, termed processed lipoaspirate cells, was previously characterized. The chondrogenic potential of those cells was confirmed with a combination of histological and molecular approaches. Processed lipoaspirate cells under high-density micromass culture conditions, supplemented with transforming growth factor-beta1, insulin, transferrin, and ascorbic acid, formed well-defined nodules within 48 hours of induction and expressed the cartilaginous markers collagen type II, chondroitin-4-sulfate, and keratan sulfate. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed the expression of collagen type II and the cartilage-specific proteoglycan aggrecan. In summary, human adipose tissue may represent a novel plentiful source of multipotential stem cells capable of undergoing chondrogenesis in vitro.
Huang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.