Buccal fat pad is a suitable intra-oral source of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells (ADSCs) for bone tissue engineering.
CD271 is one of the most specific cell surface markers used to isolate mesenchymal stem cells from various tissues.
However, there has not been a study done that has used the cell-sorting technique with this marker to isolate the
ASC from buccal fat tissue. The aim of this study was to compare the characteristics of ADSCs isolated from intraoral
buccal fat pads using CD 271+ magnetic-activated cell sorting (MACS) and plastic adherence (PA). Buccal fat tissue
was harvested from ten patients who underwent orthognathic surgeries. ADSCs were isolated from the tissue using
PA (Group A) and MACS; CD 271+ (Group B) and CD271- (Group C), (5 participants per group). The characteristics of
the cells including colony forming unit fibroblast (CFU-F), immunophenotyping markers, and multi-differentiation
into tri-lineages were comparatively assessed. Gingival fibroblast served as the negative control group. The results
demonstrated that (CFU-F) formed in the Group B cells, but were not detected in the other groups. The cells of
groups A-C expressed the mesenchymal stem cell including CD 73, 90 and 105. No statistical difference was
detected among the groups. It was noted that CD 73 was detected at the highest levels followed by CD 105 and CD
90 respectively. The cells of the control group expressed those markers remarkably less than the experiment groups
(significant differences were found in CD 73 and CD 105, p<0.05). In addition, the cells of all groups expressed
hematopoietic stem cell markers including CD 14, 20, 34 and 45 at very low levels. The cells of groups A-C demonstrated
adipogenic, chondrogenic and osteogenic differentiation when cultured in the inductive conditions. There was no
significant difference of those properties among the groups. In conclusion, CD 271 is considered as a proper marker for
sorting ADSCs from buccal fat tissue. However, it cannot be used as the sole marker. Although the ADSCs expressed
CD 90 at the lowest levels, they still had osteogenic differentiation capacity. Therefore, they can be used as a stem
cell source to repair bone defects.