Adipose Tissue - Adequate, Accessible Regenerative Material

The potential use of stem cell based therapies for the repair and regeneration of various tissues offers a paradigm shift that may provide alternative therapeutic solutions for a number of diseases. The use of either embryonic stem cells (ESCs) or induced pluripotent stem cells in clinical situations is limited due to cell regulations and to technical and ethical considerations involved in genetic manipulation of human ESCs, even though these cells are highly beneficial. Mesenchymal stem cells seen to be an ideal population of stem cells in particular, Adipose derived stem cells (ASCs) which can be obtained in large number and easily harvested from adipose tissue. It is ubiquitously available and has several advantages compared to other sources as easily accessible in large quantities with minimal invasive harvesting procedure, and isolation of adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells yield a high amount of stem cells which is essential for stem cell based therapies and tissue engineering. Recently, periodontal tissue regeneration using ASCs has been examined in some animal models. This method has potential in the regeneration of functional periodontal tissues because various secreted growth factors from ASCs might not only promote the regeneration of periodontal tissues but also encourage neovascularization of the damaged tissues. This review summarizes the sources, isolation and characteristics of adipose derived stem cells and its potential role in periodontal regeneration is discussed.