Power assisted liposuction to obtain adipose-derived stem cells: impact on viability and differentiation to adipocytes in comparison to manual aspiration.

[BACKGROUND] Adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) play a key role in tissue engineering approaches and are probably of major importance in the context of autologous fat transfer. A number of different tools for harvesting ASCs-containing fat tissue have been established. Such devices should be easy to handle, time saving, low priced, safe and provide a high amount of viable ASCs in the aspirate. Power-assisted liposuction (PAL) has not yet been described in the literature as a tool for fat harvesting for lipotransfer. Aim of this study was to investigate ASCs' viability in fat tissue harvested using PAL versus manual aspiration (MA).

[METHODS] Fat tissue was obtained from 9 donors undergoing abdominoplasty. Samples were divided into two sections. Out of each section fat was harvested using either PAL or MA. Number of isolated ASCs was defined, proliferation rate was determined and cell viability was assessed by flow cytometry. The ability of isolated ASCs to differentiate into mature adipocytes was analyzed by gene marker expression.

[RESULTS] The number of viable ASCs and the proliferation rates did not significantly differ between PAL and MA but cells harvested using PAL showed significantly higher expression levels of differentiation markers adiponectin, GLUT4 and PPARg.

[CONCLUSION] Our results show that PAL is a feasible method for harvesting fat tissue containing viable ASCs. Quantity and quality of PAL-harvested ASC is similar or even better, respectively, compared to ASCs harvested by MA.