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Updated: Jul 29, 2026
Human Adipose Tissue Micro-fragmentation for Cell Phenotyping and Secretome Characterization
Published on: October 20, 2019
Cell-free fat extract promotes tissue regeneration in a tissue expansion model
Mingwu Deng1, Xiangsheng Wang1, Ziyou Yu1
1Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Shanghai 9th People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Tissue Engineering, National Tissue Engineering Center of China, 639 ZhiZaoJu Road, Shanghai, 200011, China.
Background:
Tissue expansion techniques play an important role in plastic surgery. How to improve the quality of the expanded skin and shorten the expansion period are still worth investigating. Our previous studies found that a cell-free fat extract (CEFFE) possessed pro-angiogenic and pro-proliferative activities. However, the role of CEFFE on tissue expansion has remained unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of CEFFE on tissue expansion.
Methods:
A rat tissue expansion model was used. Animals were treated with CEFFE by subcutaneous injection. After 4 weeks of tissue expansion, the skin necrosis and retraction rates were evaluated, the thicknesses of the epidermis and dermis were determined by histological analyses, blood vessel density was measured by anti-CD31 staining, cell proliferation was assessed by proliferating cell nuclear antigen staining, and the expression of specific proteins was evaluated by western blot analyses. In addition, the effects of CEFFE on the proliferation and cell cycle of cultured HaCaT cells were evaluated in vitro.
Results:
CEFFE treatment significantly decreased the necrosis rate and retraction of the expanded skin. The thickness of the epidermal and dermal layers was higher in CEFFE-treated compared to untreated skin. The density of blood vessels and cell proliferation in the epidermis of the expanded skin was improved by CEFFE treatment. In addition, CEFFE treatment significantly increased the expression of the vascular endothelial growth factor receptor, epidermal growth factor receptor, collagen type 1, and collagen type 3. CEFFE also increased the proliferation of HaCaT cells in culture.
Conclusions:
CEFFE improves the quality of the expanded skin by promoting angiogenesis and cell proliferation. It could be potentially used clinically for augmenting tissue expansion.
