I read about this a couple of years ago. Here's an old article about it (I searched for adipose and "stem cells" in scholar.google):

Vol. 13, Issue 12, 4279-4295, December 2002

Human Adipose Tissue Is a Source of Multipotent Stem Cells

Patricia A. Zuk,*dagger Min Zhu,* Peter Ashjian,* Daniel A. De Ugarte,* Jerry I. Huang,* Hiroshi Mizuno,* Zeni C. Alfonso,Dagger John K. Fraser,Dagger Prosper Benhaim,* and Marc H. Hedrick*

*Departments of Surgery and Orthopedics, Regenerative Bioengineering and Repair Laboratory, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095; and Dagger Department of Medicine and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Division of Hematology and Oncology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California 90095

Much of the work conducted on adult stem cells has focused on mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) found within the bone marrow stroma. Adipose tissue, like bone marrow, is derived from the embryonic mesenchyme and contains a stroma that is easily isolated. Preliminary studies have recently identified a putative stem cell population within the adipose stromal compartment.

This cell population, termed processed lipoaspirate (PLA) cells, can be isolated from human lipoaspirates and, like MSCs, differentiate toward the osteogenic, adipogenic, myogenic, and chondrogenic lineages. To confirm whether adipose tissue contains stem cells, the PLA population and multiple clonal isolates were analyzed using several molecular and biochemical approaches. PLA cells expressed multiple CD marker antigens similar to those observed on MSCs.

Mesodermal lineage induction of PLA cells and clones resulted in the expression of multiple lineage-specific genes and proteins. Furthermore, biochemical analysis also confirmed lineage-specific activity.


In addition to mesodermal capacity, PLA cells and clones differentiated into putative neurogenic cells, exhibiting a neuronal-like morphology and expressing several proteins consistent with the neuronal phenotype. Finally, PLA cells exhibited unique characteristics distinct from those seen in MSCs, including differences in CD marker profile and gene expression.

Mesoderm: One of the three primary germ cell layers -- the other two are the ectoderm and endoderm -- in the very early embryo. The mesoderm is the middle layer. It differentiates to gives rise to a number of tissues and structures including bone, muscle, connective tissue, and the middle layer of the skin. Some cells in mesodermal tissues retain the capacity to differentiate in diverse directions. For example, some cells in the bone marrow (mesoderm) can become liver (endoderm).