Age influence on stromal vascular fraction cell yield obtained from human lipoaspirates

The adipose stromal vascular fraction (SVF) is a heterogeneous population of mononuclear cells that includes approximately 1-10% mesenchymal stromal cells. These SVF cells can be freshly obtained from human lipo-aspirates and represent and ideal candidate for regenerative medicine applications. In the present study, we analyzed the SVF yield as a function of the patient's age.

Adipose tissue samples from 52 informed subjects (all women) were processed by means of an innovative point-of-care technology for SVF isolation (GID platform). After enzymatic dissociation of adipose tissue and SVF pellet resuspension, we measured the concentration of mononucleated cells as well as other cell quality analyses on the cell suspension obtained. We then calculated the cell yield as total nucleated cells per milliliter of dry adipose processed.

The mean SVF yield obtained was 7.19 × 10(5) ± 2.11 × 10(5) total nucleated cells per milliliter of adipose tissue. Our results show that there is a clear statistically significant decline in SVF cell yield with increasing age.

Because all samples were obtained from the same donor area and the isolation technique used was the same in all cases, we conclude that the SVF cell yield in women is affected by patient age. Specific age-related factors should be analyzed in the future to explain these results.