The human adipose tissue is a source of multipotent stem cells.
Multipotent stem cells constitute an unlimited source of differentiated cells that could be used in pharmacological studies and in medicine. Recently, several publications have reported that adipose tissue contains a population of cells able to differentiate into different cell types including adipocytes, osteoblasts, myoblasts, and chondroblasts. More recently, stem cells with a multi-lineage potential at the single cell level have been isolated from human adipose tissue. These cells, called human Multipotent Adipose-Derived Stem (hMADS) cells, have been established in culture and interestingly, maintain their characteristics with long-term passaging. The adipocyte differentiation of hMADS cells has been thoroughly studied and differentiated cells exhibit the unique feature of human adipocytes. Finally, potential applications of stem cells isolated from adipose tissue in medicine will be discussed.
Rodriguez
A-M
AM
Faculté des Sciences, Centre de Biochimie, Institut de Recherche Signalisation, Biologie du Developpement et Cancer, UMR 6543 CNRS, Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice cedex 2, France.
Elabd
C
C
Amri
Ez-Z
EZ
Ailhaud
G
G
Dani
C
C
D017667:Adipocytes / Q000166:cytology; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology*; D000328:Adult; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006801:Humans; D039902:Multipotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation