Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Adipose tissue is considered an important source of mesenchymal stromal cells since it is an abundant tissue with great distribution throughout the body and human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) have high proliferation rates in vitro. These adult stromal cells have the ability to differentiate into tissues including bone, cartilage and adipose in vitro, and also display some biological functions such as trophic, paracrine and immunomodulatory effects that may have the greatest therapeutic impact in vivo for diverse pathologies. The considerable therapeutic potential of hASCs turned them of substantial interest in many areas of research. hASCs transplantation is currently being tested in more than 70 clinical trials for many diseases, including bone fractures, graft versus host disease, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and diabetes. In this chapter, we will describe the protocols for hASCs isolation and characterization, besides summarizing current reported studies about their potential use.