Expression pattern of embryonic stem cell markers in DFAT cells and ADSCs

Mature adipocytes can revert to a more primitive phenotype and gain cell proliferative ability under the condition of ceiling method, named dedifferentiated fat cells (DFAT cells). These cells exhibit multilineage potential as adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ADSCs). However, the stem molecular signature of DFAT cells and the difference distinct from ADSCs are still not sure. To study the molecular signature of DFAT cells better, highly purified mature adipocytes were obtained from rats and the purity was more than 98%, and about 98.6% were monocytes. These mature adipocytes dedifferentiated into fibroblast-like cells spontaneously by the ceiling culture method, these cells proliferated rapidly in vitro, grew in the same direction and formed vertex, and expressed extensively embryonic stem cell markers such as Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Nanog, surface antigen SSEA-1, CD105, and CD31, moreover, these cells possessed ALP and telomerase activity. The expression level was Oct4 1.3%, Sox2 1.3%, c-Myc 1.2%, Nanog 1.2%, CD105 0.6%, CD31 0.6% and SSEA-1 0.4%, respectively, which was lower than that in ADSCs, but the purity of DFAT cells was much higher than that of ADSCs. In conclusion, DFAT cells is a highly purified stem cell population, and expressed some embryonic stem cell markers like ADSCs, which seems to be a good candidate source of adult stem cells for the future cell replacement therapy.