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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Mar 17.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2010 Mar 2;6(4):195–213. doi: 10.1038/nrendo.2010.20

Figure 4. Potential Effects of Transplantation of Adipose-Derived Cells Expressing Properties of Subcutaneous White Adipocytes and Brown Adipocytes.

Figure 4

Several steps are to be considered as ASCs are engineered to induce beneficial metabolic effects in vivo I. Optimal sources of isolated ASCs are young, healthy, low passaged cells with high potential for proliferation and differentiation without tumorigenesis. II. ASCs are engineered to express regulators of brown fat differentiation or beneficial properties of subcutaneous fat, with the help of inhibitors of nontarget lineages, by various methods such as those involving adenoviral vectors in animals or microbubbles containing plasmid DNA that are triggered to release into specific tissues by ultrasound in humans. III. Scaffolds, growth factors, and inhibitors can be used to promote the growth of engineered ASCs that are delivered in vivo by transplantation during surgery, subcutaneous injections or intravenous injections. IV. The ASCs proliferate, differentiate, and become vascularized and innervated to form functional fat grafts. V. The fat grafts derived from engineered ASCs may then induce potential beneficial metabolic benefits. Abbreviations: BMP7: bone morphogenetic protein; FGF: fibroblast growth factor; HGF: hepatic growth factor; IL: interleukin; MMP: matrix metalloproteinase; PDGF: platelet-derived growth factor; PLGA: (poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid)); PPARγ: peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor; PRDM16: PR domain containing 16; TGF: transforming growth factor; UCP1: uncoupling protein 1;VEGF: vascular endothelial growth factor.