As every chef knows, fat is where the flavour is. As it turns out, fat is not just good at retaining flavour, but also at harbouring stem cells. Several studies have recently shown that stem cells can be isolated from adipose tissue in both animals and humans. Now, researchers in Japan have defined a cell surface receptor that improves the isolation of multipotent stem cells from mouse subcutaneous adipose tissue.

Stems cells are currently the subject of numerous, high-profile research efforts and are widely regarded to hold significant biomedical potential, in particular for the field of regenerative medicine. Due to ethical considerations associated with the use of embryonic stem (ES) cells, adult stem cells (including multipotent adult progenitor cells, or MAPCs, and adipose tissue-derived stem cells, or ASCs) are receiving increased interest. However, to date there are no highly specific cell surface antigens for multipotent stem cells, making their isolation and purification by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) a sometimes challenging endeavor.

To address this issue, a group around Naoki Yamamoto, of Fujita Health University in Aichi , Japan , recently published their findings on the use of the neurotrophin receptor, p75 (also referred to as CD271) as a fat stem cell marker in the June issue of the Journal of Dermatological Science . Together with investigators at Nippon Menard Cosmetic Company, Yamamoto and his colleagues were able to demonstrate that p75-positive cells could be readily be identified among adipose tissue-derived stromal vascular fraction culture cells (ADSVF cells). After being sorted from ADSVFs using FACS, these p75-positive cells were then successfully differentiated, showing a greater potential than p75-negative cells to form adipocytes, osteoblasts, chondrocytes, smooth muscle cells and neuronal cells.

Article by Yamamoto et al. on fat stem cell isolation, Journal of Dermatological Science, July 2007 [advance online publication]

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