Human adipose tissue-derived adult stem (ADAS) cells are a self-renewing population of cells with a multilineage plasticity similar to bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells. Human ADAS have promise for use in combination with various biomaterials for reconstructive tissue engineering. The phenotypic profile of human ADAS cell surface proteins has been partially characterized for stem cell-associated cluster differentiation molecules including CD29, CD44, and CD90. Porcine ADAS cells, an animal model for tissue engineering, also have the ability to self-renew and differentiate into multiple tissue lineages. However, the surface protein phenotype has not been described. Because porcine ADAS are isolated from fat depots likely different from human ADAS liposuction aspirates, it is important to characterize these cells. In this study, we have partially characterized the surface protein phenotype of undifferentiated porcine ADAS cells in comparison with the immunophenotype of undifferentiated human ADAS cells as reported in the literature. Flow cytometry and enhanced chemiluminescence Western blot analysis of early passage (passages 0–4) porcine ADAS cell populations demonstrated that the profiles are not similar to the human ADAS cell surface. Immunoblot detection paired with an enhanced chemiluminescence kit revealed a positive expression for CD44 and CD90 in human ADAS cells as indicated by bands present at the expected sizes and a negative expression for CD44 and CD90 in porcine ADAS cells. Flow cytometric analysis also indicated differences between human and early passage porcine ADAS cell surfaces with a relatively low expression of CD29 (5 cell lines with a mean percent positive of 4.5 ± 1.7 and a range of 2.5–7.2%) and CD44 (5 cell lines with a mean percent positive of 0.66 ± 0.67 and a range of 0.0–1.8%) compared with human ADAS values of 98 ± 1 and 60 ± 15, respectively (Gronthos et al. 2001). Other cell surface proteins analyzed at early passages include CD3 (3 cell lines; 0.07 ± 0.06% positive and 0.0–0.1 range), CD8 (3 cell lines; 0.10 ± 0.10% positive and 0–0.2 range), and CD90 [5 cell lines; 12.7 ± 11.9% positive and 2.4–33 range; human ADAS geometric mean 25.96% (Zuk et al. 2002)]. Analysis of late passage (passages 5–11) porcine ADAS cell populations revealed an increased expression of CD29 (3 cell lines; 26.4 ± 7.2% positive and 21.2–34.6 range). The expression level of CD90 at late passages were 21.3 and 26.9% positive for 2 cell lines and CD44 remained low (3 cell lines; 4.1 ± 3.5% positive and 0.2–7.0 range). Later passages were also analyzed for c-Kit (CD117), which was expressed at low levels (2 cell lines; 0.3 and 0.4% positive). The characterization of adipose tissue-derived adult stem cell surface proteins present at different stages of in vitro culture from a model animal, such as the pig, could have valuable impacts on tissue engineering research. These results suggest that care should be taken when interpreting results from animal models of somatic stem cells.
Fat Cells Gain New Identities