Adipose Tissue Engineering: Comparing Scaffold-free and Fibrin-based Constructs

Introduction Success of adipose tissue engineering for soft tissue repair has been limited by poor cell survival and insufficient adipogenic differentiation. Although the choice of scaffold can influence these parameters, there is a limited number of studies focussing on the role of scaffolds in cell survival and. adipogenic differentiation. In this study we examined how three-dimensional scaffold-free and fibrin-based culture environments impacted adipogenic differentiation and in vivo-survival of human adipose-derived stromal cells (ASC). For this, we investigated differences in the expression of adipogenic markers and the secretion of characteristic adipokines (angiogenic and inflammatory factors) of ASC in scaffold-free versus fibrin-based cultures. In addition, we determined differences in the infiltration of inflammatory cells and ASC survival upon transplantation in athymic mice.