Impact of Adipose Tissue Depot Harvesting Site on the Multilineage Induction Capacity of Male Rat Adipose-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells: An In Vitro Study

Recently, substantial attention has been paid toward adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AdMSCs) as a potential therapy in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine applications. Rat AdMSCs (r-AdMSCs) are frequently utilized. However, the influence of the adipose depot site on the multilineage differentiation potential of the r-AdMSCs is still ambiguous. Hence, the main objective of this study was to explore the influence of the adipose tissue harvesting location on the ability of r-AdMSCs to express the stem-cell-related markers and pluripotency genes, as well as their differentiation capacity, for the first time. Herein, we have isolated r-AdMSCs from the inguinal, epididymal, peri-renal, and back subcutaneous fats. Cells were compared in terms of their phenotype, immunophenotype, and expression of pluripotency genes using RT-PCR. Additionally, we investigated their potential for multilineage (adipogenic, osteogenic, and chondrogenic) induction using special stains confirmed by the expression of the related genes using RT-qPCR. All cells could positively express stem cell marker CD 90 and CD 105 with no significant in-between differences. However, they did not express the hematopoietic markers as CD 34 and CD 45. All cells could be induced successfully. However, epididymal and inguinal cells presented the highest capacity for adipogenic and osteogenic differentiation (21.36-fold and 11.63-fold for OPN, 29.69-fold and 26.68-fold for BMP2, and 37.67-fold and 22.35-fold for BSP, respectively, in epididymal and inguinal cells (p < 0.0001)). On the contrary, the subcutaneous cells exhibited a superior potential for chondrogenesis over the other sites (8.9-fold for CHM1 and 5.93-fold for ACAN, (p < 0.0001)). In conclusion, the adipose tissue harvesting site could influence the differentiation capacity of the isolated AdMSCs. To enhance the results of their employment in various regenerative cell-based therapies, it is thus vital to take the collection site selection into consideration.