RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Autologous fat grafting is a commonly used strategy to repair soft-tissue defects that has shown an approximately 40 percent increase in use in the past 5 years. However, the high reabsorption rates (average, 50 percent) often result in an unsatisfactory outcome. Current approaches aimed at increasing the blood supply of grafted fat have little clinical support. Here, we found that Salvia miltiorrhiza could improve fat graft survival by promoting adipogenic differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells by means of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) and CCAAT-enhancer binding protein alpha (C/EBPα) signaling. METHODS: Adipose tissue was harvested from the thighs of two women. Adipose-derived stem cells were characterized by flow cytometry (CD29, CD90, and CD105). The samples (2 × 104 cells/liter) were incubated with or without S. miltiorrhiza injection (0.001, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.5, 1, and 5 g/liter) during adipogenic differentiation. Oil Red O staining, triglyceride content, and adipogenic gene expression (PPARγ and C/EBPα) were performed to detect adipogenic differentiation. RESULTS: The triglyceride content in the 0.5-g/liter group was increased significantly compared with that in control groups (0.231 ± 0.010, 76.90 percent versus control, p < 0.001, day 9; 0.303 ± 0.010, 91.28 percent versus control, p < 0.001, day 10; 0.361 ± 0.008, 86.65 percent versus control, p < 0.001, day 11). The expression levels of PPARγ and C/EBPα in the 0.5-g/liter group were both increased significantly compared with those in control groups (0.0097 ± 0.0015, 48.1 percent versus control, p < 0.05 for PPARγ; 0.0423 ± 0.003, 112 percent versus control, p < 0.001 for C/EBPα). CONCLUSIONS: S. miltiorrhiza injection has a positive effect on adipogenesis of adipose-derived stem cells in vitro. The effect of this treatment on improving fat graft survival needs more in vivo research.