Understanding Lipogems®: How Clinical Success Led Scientists to Discover Why Fat Tissue Heals
Carlo Tremolada, Camillo Ricordi, Arnold I. Caplan, Carlo Ventura · 2016
Fat tissue keeps healing cells in their natural home
Traditional methods for using fat in medical treatments often involve breaking down the tissue with enzymes or harsh processing. This can damage the delicate structures that keep healing cells healthy. Lipogems® takes a different approach. It uses only gentle mechanical processing to create tiny fragments of your own fat tissue.
This gentler method preserves what scientists call the "stromal vascular niche." Think of this as a protective neighborhood where regenerative cells live and thrive. When this neighborhood stays intact, the healing cells inside remain healthier and more active than cells that have been chemically separated from their natural environment.
Doctors saw healing before scientists understood why
The Lipogems® story is unusual in medicine. Most treatments start in a laboratory and then move to patients. Lipogems® worked in reverse. Dr. Carlo Tremolada originally developed the device to improve fat grafting for plastic surgery. He and other doctors noticed that patients experienced unexpectedly good soft tissue repair after treatment.
These surprising clinical results sparked curiosity among researchers. Scientists began studying the Lipogems® product to understand what made it work so well. This "bed-to-bench" approach—where patient outcomes guide scientific discovery—has led to important insights about how fat tissue supports healing.
Preserved cells show stronger regenerative potential
Laboratory studies revealed that stem cells from Lipogems®-processed tissue behave differently than cells extracted using traditional enzyme methods. The Lipogems® cells showed genetic patterns associated with:
Self-renewal: The ability to maintain their regenerative properties over time
Stemness: Characteristics that allow them to support tissue repair
Neural potential: Genes related to nerve tissue development
These findings suggest that keeping cells in their natural tissue environment helps preserve their healing capabilities. The intact niche structure appears to protect the cells' ability to release helpful substances that support tissue repair.
Frozen tissue maintains its healing properties
One practical advantage discovered through research is that Lipogems® tissue can be safely frozen and stored. When thawed, the tissue keeps its protective niche structure intact. The embedded stem cells remain alive and functional.
This means doctors may be able to harvest tissue once and use it for multiple treatments over time. Patients would not need repeated harvesting procedures. This finding opens possibilities for more convenient treatment planning.
Cells respond better to healing signals when protected
Researchers also tested how well the cells responded to different stimulation methods. They compared Lipogems®-derived cells to cells extracted using enzymes. The results showed that protected cells were significantly more responsive to both chemical signals and physical energy, such as electromagnetic fields.
When exposed to these signals, Lipogems® cells showed higher rates of development into several useful cell types:
Heart muscle cells
Blood vessel lining cells
Skeletal muscle cells
Nerve cells
This enhanced responsiveness may help explain the clinical success doctors observed in patients receiving Lipogems® treatment.
The tissue acts as a slow-release healing system
Scientists believe the Lipogems® product works like a natural delivery system. The intact fat tissue gradually releases helpful substances called trophic mediators. These chemical messengers travel to surrounding damaged tissue and help create a better environment for healing.
Rather than delivering a single burst of cells, the tissue provides ongoing support. This "slow releasing" effect may help explain why patients experience sustained improvement after treatment. The preserved niche structure allows the embedded cells to continue their natural communication with surrounding tissues.
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What this means for your treatment decision: This research helps explain why Lipogems® processing methods matter. By preserving your fat tissue's natural structure rather than breaking it apart chemically, the treatment keeps regenerative cells in their protective environment. This may help them work more effectively when transplanted to support tissue repair.
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Source: Tremolada et al., None, 2016.
Original Publication
Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Lipogems, a Reverse Story: from Clinical Practice to Basic Science
Carlo Tremolada, Camillo Ricordi, Arnold I. Caplan, Carlo Ventura · 2016
The idea that basic science should precede clinical practice has been consolidated as the cornerstone of Molecular Medicine. Nevertheless, there is increasing concern over the low efficiency and high costs related to translating achievements from bench to bedside, particularly in stem cell biology and Regenerative Medicine. As an alternative paradigm, Medical Science provides remarkable reverse stories where clinical observations have driven major advances in basic research, leading to progression in clinical practice. Within this context, we discuss our recently developed method and device, Lipogems, for processing human adipose tissue solely with mild mechanical forces to yield a microfractured tissue product. Initially conceived to improve lipofilling technique for plastic surgery, clinical evidence showed unprecedented soft tissue repair following Lipogems transplantation. This reverse bed-to-bench approach revealed that Lipogems maintains an intact stromal vascular niche harboring mesenchymal stem cells and pericytes with self-renewal/stemness patterning and neurogenic commitment capacity. The product can be reliably cryopreserved without losing niche structure or stem cell viability. Notably, Lipogems-derived stem cells are significantly more responsive to chemical agents and electromagnetic fields than enzymatically dissociated cells, showing higher commitment along myocardial, endothelial, skeletal muscle, and neural lineages. These findings help unravel mechanistic bases of Lipogems healing properties and may further deploy its use in tissue rescue applications.