ORIGINAL ARTICLE Surgical-derived oral adipose tissue provides early stage adult stem cells Juin-Hong Cherng a , Shu-Jen Chang a , Tong-Jing Fang b,c , Meng-Lun Liu d , Chung-Hsing Li e , Shih-Fang Yang a,f , Jiang-Chuan Liu g , Nien-Hsien Liou g , Ming-Lun Hsu a * a Department of Dentistry, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC b Department of Cardiology, SongShan Armed Forces General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC c Department of Family Medicine, BeiTou Armed Forces Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC d General Surgery, Cheng-Hsin General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC e Department of Dentistry for Children and Orthodontic Dental, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC f Eonway Health Maintenance Center, West Garden Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC g Department and Graduate Institute of Biology and Anatomy, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC Received 13 November 2011; Final revision received 10 January 2012 Available online --- KEYWORDS bone morphogenetic protein 4; human oral adipose tissue; nestin; octamer-binding transcription factor 4; telomere length assay Abstract Background/purpose: Stem cells (SCs) are characterized by the ability to undergo self-renewal and differentiation into multi-lineage cell types. The low risk to donors, the ease of harvest, and the abundance in the human body of adipose-derived SCs make it an attractive source for adult SCs. Materials and methods: Oral adipose tissue was collected by clinical surgery as certified by the Institutional Review Board. SCs were isolated and purified with collagenase containing Dulbec- co’s modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) and confirmed by immunofluorescence staining with early stage SCs and germinal layer markers. Telomere length was assayed following the proce- dure provided with the TeloTAGGG kit, and the reverse transcription polymerase chain reac- tion (RT-PCR) of octamer-binding transcription factor 4 (Oct4) was detected with primers 5 0 - GTA CTC CTC GGT CCC TTT CC-3 0 and 5 0 -CAA AAA CCC TGG CAC AAA CT-3 0 . Results: SCs derived from human oral adipose tissue (hOASCs) express Oct4 (an early stage stem cell marker) as well as bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) and nestin (both germ layer markers). Furthermore, the telomere length assay showed that hOASCs possess high- * Corresponding author. Department of Dentistry, National Yang-Ming University, Number 155, Section 2, Linong Street, Beitou District, Taipei City 112, Taiwan, ROC. E-mail address: mlhsu@ym.edu.tw (M.-L. Hsu). + MODEL Please cite this article in press as: Cherng J-H, et al., Surgical-derived oral adipose tissue provides early stage adult stem cells, Journal of Dental Sciences (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jds.2013.02.008 1991-7902/$36 Copyright ª 2013, Association for Dental Sciences of the Republic of China. Published by Elsevier Taiwan LLC. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jds.2013.02.008 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.e-jds.com Journal of Dental Sciences (2013) xx,1e6