Adipose stromal/stem cells in regenerative medicine: Potentials and limitations

This article presents the stem and progenitor cells from subcutaneous adipose tissue, briefly comparing them with their bone marrow counterparts, and discussing their potential for use in regenerative medicine. Subcutaneous adipose tissue differs from other mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) sources in that it contains a pre-adipocyte population that dwells in the adventitia of robust blood vessels. Pre-adipocytes are present both in the stromal-vascular fraction (SVF; freshly isolated cells) and in the adherent fraction of adipose stromal/stem cells (ASCs; in vitro expanded cells), and have an active role on the chronic inflammation environment established in obesity, likely due their monocytic-macrophage lineage identity. The SVF and ASCs have been explored in cell therapy protocols with relative success, given their paracrine and immunomodulatory effects. Importantly, the widely explored multipotentiality of ASCs has direct application in bone, cartilage and adipose tissue engineering. The aim of this editorial is to reinforce the peculiarities of the stem and progenitor cells from subcutaneous adipose tissue, revealing the spheroids as a recently described biotechnological tool for cell therapy and tissue engineering. Innovative cell culture techniques, in particular 3D scaffold-free cultures such as spheroids, are now available to increase the potential for regeneration and differentiation of mesenchymal lineages. Spheroids are being explored not only as a model for cell differentiation, but also as powerful 3D cell culture tools to maintain the stemness and expand the regenerative and differentiation capacities of mesenchymal cell lineages.