Adipose Derived Stem and Regenerative Cells (ADRCs)

The adipose tissue is the richest known source for adult stem cells in the human body. The stem cells derived from the adipose tissue of the human body are called ADRCs. They can be extracted from the adipose tissue by a process of washing, enzymatic digestion and filtration.

Apart from stem cells the cell population in the adipose tissue also contains other useful cells like leukocytes, smooth muscles, endothelial cells etc.

Autologous adult stem and regenerative cells (ADRCs) promote healing of scarred or injured tissue. It is believed that this heterogeneous population of cells influences the local environment via cell-to-cell signaling, immune modulation, and differentiation into other cell types. ADRCs have great potential for application in the treatment of many different medical conditions including cardiovascular disease, soft tissue defects, wound healing, and many more.

ADRCs vs Bone Marrow Stem Cells

The more commonly known source of adult stem cells is the human bone marrow. However it has been proven that Adipose Derived Stem and Regenerative Cells hold key advantages over stem and regenerative cells from other sources. While stem and progenitor cells usually make up less than 5% of all ADRCs, this is 2,500-fold more than the frequency of such cells in tissues such as bone marrow (0.002%). The abundance of ADRCs in adipose tissue and the ability to easily collect large amounts of adipose tissue via liposuction makes it a unique and promising approach to healthcare.

• ADRCs contain a higher frequency of stem cells than any other autologous adult stem cell source
  
  
• ADRCs can be harvested with minimal pain and discomfort through a simple, minimally invasive liposuction procedure that can be performed under local anesthesia and takes approximately 20-30 minutes to complete
  
• ADRCs can be processed quickly to yield stem cells in a sterile, automated system

ADRCs – Driving a Paradigm Shift in Medical Therapies

Adipose Derived Stem and Regenerative Cells have two primary properties that make them invaluable to the medical field:

1. They can differentiate into any cell type, for example muscle, nerve or skin cells
2. They express growth factors that can act on other cells and stimulate growth and differentiation

Due to its ability to differentiate into multiple cell types and express growth factors ADRCs have great potential in both surgical as well cosmetic and reconstructive procedures. In terms of surgical conditions such as myocardial ischemia, myocardial infarction, liver cirrhosis, nerve degeneration, cartilage injuries etc., ADRCs can be used in treatment and therapy whereby cells lost to disease or injury are replaced by new cells generated within the body itself.

Studies have shown ADRCs to be capable of:

1. Stimulating the healing process
2. Improving tissue function following injury
3. Improving cardiac function post myocardial infarction
4. Increasing ventricular wall thickness and capillary density
5. Stimulation of blood vessel formation
6. Reduction of cell death
7. Stimulation of cell growth

In the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery, where the person’s adipose tissue is grafted from host area to the treatment area for reconstruction or beauty enhancement, an infusion of ADRCs into the graft can help in:

1. Improvement in long term graft retention
2. Enhanced engraftment of autologous fat grafts
3. Improved cosmetic results

Needless to say ADRCs show great potential in the treatment of a variety of physiological and structural conditions and disorders.

ADRC – Freshly Isolated Cells for Better Results

Adipose Derived Stem and Regenerative cells were earlier isolated from lipoaspirates through a complex and expensive process involving centrifuging the adipose tissue and culturing the cells. However this resulted in the loss of other cell population in adipose cells such as endothelial cells, leukocytes, skeletal muscles etc. which contribute to the beneficiary properties of ADRCs. The cell culture process also added to the risk of cell contamination.

Studies were conducted that proved that cell culture was not required to obtain a clinically effective population of cells. Freshly isolated ADRCs are simpler and less expensive to extract through liposuction and provide a larger base of cells.

Since adipose tissue is a solid organ, extraction of ADRCs requires enzymatic digestion using clinical grade enzymes and reagents. It is crucial that this process is conducted in a tissue processing method that minimizes risk of contamination of cells. Similarly delivery of ADRCs should be done in a method that eliminates side effects to the person and enhances desired results.

Cytori Technologies – Committed to Providing Access to Fresh ADRCs

Cytori is committed to providing patients and physicians around the world with medical technologies, which harness the potential of adult stem and regenerative cells from adipose tissue. These technologies enable the research and practice of regenerative medicine in a way that, until now, has not been possible.

Cytori has in fact pioneered the therapeutic use of a mixed or heterogenous population of uncultured (i.e. fresh) cell types found in adipose tissue by developing the Celution® System which can harvest and process a person’s adipose tissue and deliver a clinical grade population of ADRCs at the point-of-care.

The Celution System processes a patient’s own fat to generate adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRCs) in about one hour, which can then be used on the same individual within the same surgical procedure or subsequently for a variety of reconstructive and cosmetic medicine applications.

In addition, it enables the harvested ADRCs to be mixed with adipose extracted for use as grafts to create a cell-enriched graft for immediate re-implantation into the same patient. These enhanced fat grafts enjoy long-term retention and are therefore a far better, natural alternative to artificial implants for breast reconstruction or augmentation.

Celution System has the following advantages over traditional methods of extracting and using ADRCs:

Cytori’s global patent portfolio is built around the Celution System and the numerous therapeutic uses for which the Celution System output can be tailored.

Celution System has great therapeutic and medicine uses in the following key areas:

Surgical Procedures and Chronic Disease Treatment

Celution System has great application in surgical procedures in cardiovascular disease, wound healing, gastrointestinal disorders, stress urinary incontinence, liver and renal disease, spinal disc degeneration, and pelvic health conditions. Usage of freshly harvested ADRCs have been shown to help in development of new blood vessels, formation of new cells, promote wound healing and express growth factors without the risk factors associated with normal methods of treatment.

Beauty Enhancement Procedures

One of the major applications of the Celution System is in the field of cosmetic medicine in the form of breast reconstruction and augmentation procedures.  Using the Celution system it is possible to use freshly harvested ADRCs and mix them with the patient’s adipose tissue graft to create supercharged or enhanced fat grafts thereby enabling long-term retention of the fat graft. Long term retention as well as natural appearnce and texture make it a natural alternative to artificial implants for breast reconstruction or augmentation.

Reconstructive Procedures

Another major application for freshly harvested ADRCs is in the field of reconstructive surgery like plastic surgery and cosmetic surgery for burns, cleft lip, radiotherapy lesions etc. The use of one’s own ADRCs either in the form of a supercharged or enhanced fat graft or as a computer assisted transplant of purified lipoaspirate, helps in promoting regeneration of cells, new blood vessel formation and hydration.
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Another break through product in the company’s repertoire is the StemSource family of products used for research, as well as for the cryopreservation and storage of ADRCs. The StemSource System is either available as a standalone product, or as a part of a comprehensive suite of systems, equipment, and protocols collectively referred to as a StemSource Cell Bank.