Multipotential Capacity of Human Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells

Adipose tissue is derived from the embryonic mesenchyme and can be isolated easily. The purpose of this study was to investigate the multipotent ability of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells and to investigate the molecular characterization of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells during chondrogenic differentiation in vitro. Our results showed that adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells have the ability to differentiate into adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic cells with adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic medium in vitro. The expression of chondrogenic related molecules were detected by RT-PCR analysis during chondrogenic differentiation. These studies demonstrate that human adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells have the multipotentiality and adipose tissue may represent a novel approach to form tissue engineering cartilage to heal the damage cartilage.