Effects of GSK3 inhibitors on in vitro expansion and differentiation of human adipose-derived stem cells into adipocytes

Background Multipotent stem cells exist within adipose tissue throughout life. An abnormal recruitment of these adipose precursor cells could participate to hyperplasia of adipose tissue observed in severe obesity or to hypoplasia of adipose tissue observed in lipodystrophy. Therefore, pharmacological molecules that control the pool of stem cells in adipose tissue are of great interest. Glycogen Synthase Kinase (GSK) 3 has been previously described as involved in differentiation of preadipose cells and might be a potential therapeutic target to modulate proliferation and differentiation of adipocyte precursors. However, the impact of GSK3 inhibition on human adipose-derived stem cells remained to be investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate GSK3 as a possible target for pharmacological inhibition of stem cell adipogenesis. To reach this goal, we studied the effects of pharmacological inhibitors of GSK3, i.e. lithium chloride (LiCl) and BIO on proliferation and adipocyte differentiation of multipotent stem cells derived from human adipose tissue.