Adipose-derived stem cells incorporated into platelet-rich plasma improved bone regeneration and maturation in vivo.

Background/aim: Some cases of tooth loss related to dental trauma require bone-grafting procedures to improve the aesthetics before prosthetic rehabilitation or to enable the installation of dental implants. Bone regeneration is often a challenge and could be largely improved by mesenchymal stem cells therapy. However, the appropriate scaffold for these cells still a problem. This study evaluated the in vivo effect of human adipose-derived stem cells incorporated into autogenous platelet-rich plasma in bone regeneration and maturation.

Material And Methods: Adipose-derived stem cells were isolated from lipoaspirate tissues and used at passage 4. Immunophenotyping and multilineage differentiation of cells were performed and mesenchymal stem cells characteristics confirmed. Bicortical bone defects (10 mm diameter) were created in the tibia of six beagle dogs to evaluate the effect of adipose-derived stem cells incorporated into platelet-rich plasma scaffolds, platelet-rich plasma alone, autogenous bone grafts, and clot. Samples were removed 6 weeks postsurgeries and analyzed by quantification of primary and secondary bone formation and granulation tissue.

Results: Adipose-derived stem cells incorporated into platelet-rich plasma scaffolds promoted the highest bone formation (primary + secondary bone) (P < 0.001), the highest bone maturation (secondary bone) (P < 0.001), and the lowest amount of granulation tissue (P < 0.001).

Conclusions: Adipose-derived stem cells incorporated into platelet-rich plasma scaffolds promote more bone formation and maturation, and less granulation tissue in bone defects created in canine tibia. Therefore, platelet-rich plasma can be considered as a candidate scaffold for adipose-derived stem cells to promote bone regeneration.