ORIGINAL ARTICLE Influence of Age and Body Mass Index on the Yield and Proliferation Capacity of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Ali Mojallal • Charlotte Lequeux • Christo Shipkov • Antoine Duclos • Fabienne Braye • Rod Rohrich • Spencer Brown • Odile Damour Received: 2 March 2011 / Accepted: 19 April 2011 / Published online: 26 May 2011 Ó Springer Science+Business Media, LLC and International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery 2011 Abstract Background Adipose tissue is commonly used for vol- ume restoration. It is also a source of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs), easy to obtain in large quantities by lipo- suction or resection techniques. The aim of this study was to determine the influence of body mass index (BMI) and age on the number (yield) and proliferation capacity of ASCs. Methods A prospective study was conducted in 42 women. They were divided into two groups: age B 40 or [ 40 and BMI B 25 or [ 25. Fat tissue was harvested via manual lipoaspiration always from the abdominal region. After centrifugation in the OR, the harvested fat (100 cc) was sent to the laboratory for isolation and cultivation of ASCs. The yield of viable ASCs was evaluated by the trypan blue exclusion test. Viable ASCs were cultured and their proliferation capacity was evaluated by the growth kinetics assay. Results were statistically analyzed. Results The average cell yield was 0.380 9 10 6 /ml. Cell yield and proliferation capacity did not show statistically significant correlation to the age and BMI of patients, with regression lines showing null correlation. There was no significant difference between the cell yield and prolifer- ation capacity between the different groups. Conclusion The results from this study suggest that there is no statistically significant correlation between ASC yield and proliferation capacity and age and BMI. Keywords Adipose-derived stem cells  BMI  Age  Cell yield  Proliferation Numerous reconstructive procedures are performed annu- ally to repair various soft tissue defects [14, 19]. Standard approaches include flaps, autologous fat transplantation, and alloplastic implants and fillers [39]. Autologous fat grafting seems to have gained in popularity for the past 15 years [5] since it is minimally invasive, with insignifi- cant donor site morbidity and a low complications rate. However, the unpredictable degree of resorption of the transplanted fat remains its most important disadvantage [22]. To increase the fat tissue survival rate, adipose- derived stem cells (ASCs) and adipose tissue engineering were suggested as valuable alternatives [40]. Adipose tissue was shown to be an important source of ASCs [1], which are involved in tissue engineering and tissue transplantation for several reasons. First, ASCs are similar to bone marrow stem cells [25] as they are capable This material was presented at the 55th Congress of the French Society of Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Surgery, Paris, France, November 22-24, 2010. A. Mojallal (&)  C. Shipkov  F. Braye  O. Damour Service de Chirurgie Plastique, Reconstructrice et Esthe ´tique, Pavillon U, Ho ˆpital Edouard Herriot, 5 Place d’Arsonval, Lyon 69437, Cedex 03, France e-mail: dr.mojallal@gmail.com A. Mojallal  C. Lequeux  C. Shipkov  O. Damour Laboratory for Cutaneous Substitutes, Edouard Herriot Hospital, Lyon, France A. Mojallal  R. Rohrich  S. Brown Department of Plastic Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dallas, TX 75390, USA A. Duclos Hospices Civils de Lyon, Po ˆle Information Me ´dicale E ´ valuation Recherche, Lyon 69003, France A. Duclos Universite ´ de Lyon, EA Sante ´-Individu-Socie ´te ´ 4129, Lyon 69002, France 123 Aesth Plast Surg (2011) 35:1097–1105 DOI 10.1007/s00266-011-9743-7