Abstract
Lipofilling has far more applications than cosmetic surgery alone. Due to its high content of stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cells, lipoaspirate can also be used to treat wounds, as its cellular components may accelerate wound healing. Using our CELT(PLUS) protocol, we can increase the number of SVF cells per volume. Unfortunately, some patients require more than one treatment to achieve an optimal outcome, but would unnecessarily suffer from repeated liposuction. Therefore, our objective was to test whether cryopreserving CELT(PLUS) fat could offer a solution, potentially avoiding the need for repeated liposuction procedures. DMSO was used as a cryoprotective agent for proof-of-principle testing, although other non-toxic cryoprotective agents should be considered in the future. The rest of our freezing protocol is a clinically friendly attempt to facilitate the translation into clinical practice. We tested the cryopreserved tissue using histological evaluation, metabolism measurement, SVF cell yield estimation, PCRs from both whole tissue and from cultured SVF cells, and Oil Red "O" staining. We found that freezing CELT(PLUS) fat with DMSO yields better results than without cryoprotection in all evaluated methods. Until non-toxic cryoprotective agents are tested on CELT(PLUS) fat, we do not recommend initiating animal or human testing.