Abstract
The advantages of adipose-derived stem cells (AdSCs) over bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs), such as being available as a medical waste and less discomfort during harvest, have made them a good alternative instead of BMSCs in tissue engineering. AdSCs from buccal fat pad (BFP), as an easily harvestable and accessible source, have gained interest to be used for bone regeneration in the maxillofacial region. Due to scarcity of data regarding comparative analysis of isolated AdSCs from different parts of the body, we aimed to quantitatively compare the proliferation and osteogenic capabilities of AdSCs from different harvesting sites. In this study, AdSCs were isolated from BFP (BFPdSCs), abdomen (abdomen-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AbdSCs)), and hip (hip-derived mesenchymal stem cells (HdSCs)) from one individual and were compared for surface marker expression, morphology, growth rate, and osteogenic differentiation capability. Among them, BFPdSCs demonstrated the highest proliferation rate with the shortest doubling time and also expressed vascular endothelial markers including CD34 and CD146. Moreover, the expression of osteogenic markers were significantly higher in BFPdSCs. The results of this study suggested that BFPdSCs as an encouraging source of mesenchymal stem cells are to be used for bone tissue engineering.