title: Human adipose tissue stem cells: relevance in the pathophysiology of obesity and metabolic diseases and therapeutic applications.
abstract: Stem cells are unique cells exhibiting self-renewing properties and the potential to differentiate into multiple specialised cell types. Totipotent or pluripotent stem cells are generally abundant in embryonic or fetal tissues, but the use of discarded embryos as sources of these cells raises challenging ethical problems. Adult stem cells can also differentiate into a wide variety of cell types. In particular, adult adipose tissue contains a pool of abundant and accessible multipotent stem cells, designated as adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs), that are able to replicate as undifferentiated cells, to develop as mature adipocytes and to differentiate into multiple other cell types along the mesenchymal lineage, including chondrocytes, myocytes and osteocytes, and also into cells of endodermal and neuroectodermal origin, including beta-cells and neurons, respectively. An impairment in the differentiation potential and biological functions of ASCs may contribute to the development of obesity and related comorbidities. In this review, we summarise different aspects of the ASCs with special reference to the isolation and characterisation of these cell populations, their relation to the biochemical features of the adipose tissue depot of origin and to the metabolic characteristics of the donor subject and discuss some prospective therapeutic applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency and Organ Transplantation - Section of Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Andrology and Metabolic Diseases, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cignarelli
authors.forename: Sebastio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Perrini
authors.forename: Romina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ficarella
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Peschechera
authors.forename: Pasquale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nigro
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giorgino
mesh_terms: D017667:Adipocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000166:cytology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D006801:Humans; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism