ADIPOSE DERIVED STEM CELLS- A REVIEW OF THEIR CURRENT ROLE IN
RECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
Adipocytes are now known to have immense capacity for self-renewal and as well as multipotential differentiation. Adipose derived stem cells (ADSC) are multipotent stem cells of mesenchymal origin, located ubiquitously in human body. Unlike the bone marrow stem cells, they are easy to harvest from subcutaneous tissues by minimally invasive procedures. Several advances in isolation, invitro culture and replication of adipose derived stem cells have occurred in last decade. Cell assisted lipo-transfers for enhancing the survival of autologous fat grafts (AFG) by enriching them with ADSC is being practiced in Plastic surgery. Because of their potential for angiogenesis, tissue regeneration, immunomodulatory and paracrine effects, fat grafts nd considerable applications in Plastic surgery and Regenerative medicine. This paper explores the current research into applications, techniques of harvest, culture and tissue engineering of ADSC and the concerns about the oncogenic potentiation and genetic stability of the cultured cell lines.