Adipose stem cells and skeletal repair

Abstract

Although adipose tissue has been considered a useless tissue, recent investigations have shown that it provides an abundant source of adult stem cells. Adipose stem cells (ASCs) can undergo rapid osteogenenic differentiation, which represents a promising option for bone tissue engineering and treating large bone defects. While bone marrow-derived stem cells have been more extensively studied for bone tissue engineering, a limitation exists in the harvested amount of bone marrow. As adipose tissue can provide a much greater number of adult stem cells without causing morbidity, it offers a good option as a cell source for bone tissue engineering. In this review, we discuss the definition of ASCs, the induction of osteogenic differentiation from ASCs, scaffolding materials for adipose bone tissue engineering, and in vivo models for future clinical applications.