Human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) may represent a suitable tool for regenerative therapies due to their simple isolation procedure, and high proliferative capability in culture. We have recently developed a novel non-enzymatic method and device, named Lipogems, to obtain a fat tissue-derived stromal vascular fraction highly enriched in pericytes/mesenchymal stem cells by mild mechanical forces from human lipoaspirates. When compared to enzymatically dissociated cells, Lipogems-derived hASCs exhibited enhanced transcription of vasculogenic genes in response to pro-vasculogenic molecules, suggesting that these cells may be amenable for further optimization of their pluripotency.

We exposed Lipogems-derived hASCs to a Radio Electric Asymmetric Conveyer (REAC), an innovative device asymmetrically conveying radio electric fields, affording both pluripotency optimization in mouse embryonic stem cells, and efficient direct multi-lineage reprogramming in human skin fibroblasts. We show that specific REAC exposure remarkably enhanced the transcription of prodynorphin, GATA4, Nkx2.5, VEGF, HGF, vWF, neurogenin1 and myoD, indicating the commitment towards cardiac, vascular, neuronal and skeletal muscle lineages, as inferred by the overexpression of a program of targeted marker proteins. REAC exposure also finely tuned the expression of pluripotency genes, including Nanog, Sox2, and Oct4. Noteworthy, the REAC induced responses were fashioned at a significantly higher extent in Lipogems-derived than in enzymatically-dissociated hASCs.

In conclusion, the interplay between radio electric asymmetrically conveyed fields and Lipogems-derived hASCs appears to involve the generation of an ideal “milieau” to optimize pluripotency expression from human adult stem cells, paving the way to unprecedented cell therapy perspectives.