Engineered adipose tissue from human mesenchymal stem cells maintains predefined shape and dimension: Implications in soft tissue augmentation and reconstruction

Soft tissue augmentation is a widespread practice in plastic and reconstructive surgery. The objective of the present study was to engineer adipose tissue constructs with predefined shape and dimensions, potentially utilizable in soft tissue augmentation and reconstruction, by encapsulating adult stem cell-derived adipogenic cells in a biocompatible hydrogel system. Bone marrow-derived adult human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) were preconditioned by 1 week of exposure to adipogenic-inducing supplement followed by photoencapsulation in poly( ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogel in predefined shape and dimensions. In two parallel experiments, the resulting hMSC-derived adipogenic cell-polymer constructs were either incubated in vitro in adipogenic medium or implanted in vivo in the dorsum of immunodeficient mice for 4 weeks. Tissue-engineered adipogenic constructs demonstrated positive reaction to oil red O staining both in vitro and in vivo, and expressed PPAR-gamma 2 adipogenic gene marker in vivo. By contrast, control PEGDA hydrogel constructs encapsulating undifferentiated hMSCs failed to demonstrate the adipogenic gene marker and were negative for oil red O staining. Recovered in vitro and in vivo constructs maintained their predefined physical shape and dimensions. These data demonstrate that adipose tissue engineered from human mesenchymal stem cells can retain predefined shape and dimensions for soft tissue augmentation and reconstruction.