Abstract
Introduction: Regenerative medicine (RM) is an interdisciplinary field of research and clinical applications focus on the repair, replacement, or regeneration of cells, tissues and organs to restore impaired function. RM employs technological breakthroughs such as those used in tissue engineering (TE) (i.e. biodegradable, biomimetic biopolymers, nanotechnology, biosensors etc) in combination with the powerful differentiation capacity of stemcells. Indeed, adipose tissue (AT) is a rich source ofmultipotential stromal cells (MSCs) that can be successfully differentiated towards mesoderm-related lineages such as osteoblasts, adipocytes, chondroblasts and fibroblasts representing a good overall option for autologous regenerative applications. Adult tissues, however, contain only committed stem cells that are multi- or even oligopotent. The use of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) for medical applications is prohibited for legal/ethical (commercialization of life) andmedical (immune rejection of heterologous tissue) reasons. Thus, generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) by reprogramming of terminally differentiated cells (Takahashi and Yamanaka, 2006) offers the possibility for autologous regeneration of any tissue using pluripotent stem cells.
\nRead More