title: Multipotent stem cells are effectively collected from adult human cheek skin.
abstract: Skin-derived precursor (SKP) cells are a valuable resource for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, because they represent multipotent stem cells that differentiate into neural and mesodermal progenies. Previous studies suggest that the stem cell pool decreases with age. Here, we show that human multipotent SKP cells can be efficiently collected from adult cheek/chin skin, even in aged individuals of 70-78years. SKP cells were isolated from 38 skin samples by serum-free sphere culture and examined for the ability to differentiate into neural and mesodermal lineages. The number of spheres obtained from adult facial skin was significantly higher than that of trunk or extremity skin. SKP cells derived from cheek/chin skin exhibited a high ability to differentiate into neural and mesodermal cells relative to those derived from eyelid, trunk, or extremity skin. Furthermore, cheek/chin skin SKP cells were shown to express markers for undifferentiated stem cells, including a high expression level of the Sox9 gene. These results indicate that cheek/chin skin is useful for the recovery of multipotent stem cells for tissue engineering and regenerative therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshikawa
authors.forename: Motoko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naitoh
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kubota
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishiko
authors.forename: Rino
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aya
authors.forename: Satoko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamawaki
authors.forename: Shigehiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D002610:Cheek; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D039902:Multipotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D055495:Neurogenesis; D044968:Regenerative Medicine; D012867:Skin / Q000166:cytology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering