title: Potential Therapeutic Applications of Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells.
abstract: Stem cells are subdivided into two main categories: embryonic and adult stem cells. In principle, pluripotent embryonic stem cells might differentiate in any cell types of the organism, whereas the potential of adult stem cells would be more restricted. Although adult stem cells from bone marrow have been initially the most extensively studied, those derived from human adipose tissue have been lately more widely investigated, because of several advantages. First, they can be easily obtained in large amounts from subcutaneous adipose tissue, with minimal pain and morbidity for the patients during harvesting. In addition, they feature low immunogenicity and can differentiate not only in cells of mesodermal lineage (adipocytes, osteoblasts, chondrocytes and muscle cells), but also in cells of other germ layers, such as neural or epithelial cells. As their multilineage differentiation capabilities are increasingly highlighted, their possible use in cell-based regenerative medicine is now broadly explored. In fact, starting from in vitro observations, many studies have already entered the preclinical and clinical phases. In this review, because of our main scientific interest, adipogenic, osteogenic, chondrogenic, and neurogenic differentiation abilities of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells, as well as their possible therapeutic applications, are chiefly focused. In addition, their ability to differentiate toward muscle, epithelial, pancreatic, and hepatic cells is briefly reported.
authors: Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Section of Physiology, University of Catania , Catania, Italy .
authors: Debora
authors: D
authors: Lo Furno
authors: Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Section of Physiology, University of Catania , Catania, Italy .
authors: Giuliana
authors: G
authors: Mannino
authors: Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Section of Physiology, University of Catania , Catania, Italy .
authors: Venera
authors: V
authors: Cardile
authors: Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Section of Physiology, University of Catania , Catania, Italy .
authors: Rosalba
authors: R
authors: Parenti
authors: Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, Section of Physiology, University of Catania , Catania, Italy .
authors: Rosario
authors: R
authors: Giuffrida
keywords: ASCs; ectodermal differentiation; endodermal differentiation; mesodermal differentiation; stem cell therapy