Autologous adipose
Autologous means the patient's own. CellVault is used with adipose harvested from the same patient. For physicians who already think in adipose biology, the value is straightforward: abundant stromal and regenerative populations, the patient's own DNA, and a harvest they control.
Adipose is organized as adipocyte lobules. The stromal vascular fraction (the cells and extracellular matrix between adipocytes and around vessels) holds vascular, immune, and progenitor populations that maintain tissue homeostasis and remodeling.
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Mature adipocytes dominate the lobule. Between adipocytes and around the vasculature sits the stromal vascular fraction (SVF): a mixed compartment physicians recognize from fat-harvest literature.
- Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells
- Pericytes and other perivascular cells
- Preadipocytes / adipose progenitors
- Endothelial cells
- Resident immune cells (for example macrophages, lymphocytes, mast cells)
- Hematopoietic lineage cells and progenitors
- Fibroblasts and extracellular matrix
Adipose has been reported to contain a higher frequency of mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (often measured as CFU-F) per unit volume than bone marrow aspirate. Published comparisons vary with assay and harvest method; literature ranges often cited fall roughly on the order of about 100× to 2,500×, depending on how the sample is prepared and counted. This is a tissue-biology comparison physicians already discuss. It is not a clinical outcome claim.
Mature adipocytes are long-lived. Spalding and colleagues (Nature, 2008) reported that about 10% of adipocytes renew per year in adults, with a mean adipocyte age on the order of about 10 years (often summarized as an 8 to 10 year lifespan). Contrast that with tissues that turn over quickly: epidermis renews on a timescale of days to weeks, and many blood cell lineages turn over on daily or even hourly timescales depending on lineage and demand. Adipose-resident regenerative and stromal populations sit in a relatively sequestered, long-lived tissue niche. That is one reason adipose is an attractive autologous source.
Why autologous matters
- Own DNA, cells, and tissue
- No donor rejection risk
- No donor disease transmission
- Harvested from the patient and returned to the same patient
The CellMark360 mark is a fingerprint and DNA. The physician works with the patient's own adipose, not a donor product. Autologous only.