Derived from mature adipocytes, dedifferentiated fat (DFAT) cells represent a special group of multipotent cells. However, their phenotype and cellular nature remain unclear. Our study found that human DFAT cells adopted perivascular characteristics and behaviors. Flow cytometry and immunofluorescent staining revealed that human DFAT cells positively expressed markers highly related to perivascular cell lineages, such as CD140b, NG2 and desmin, but were negative for common endothelial markers, including CD31, CD34, and CD309. Furthermore, DFAT cells displayed vascular network formation ability in Matrigel, and they noticeably promoted and stabilized the vessel structures formed by human umbilical vascular endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro. These results provide novel evidence on the pericyte nature of human DFAT cells, further supporting the recent model for the perivascular origin of adult stem cells, in which tissue-specific progenitor cells in mesenchymal tissues associate with blood vessels, exhibiting perivascular characteristics and functions.
Keywords: Angiogenesis; Dedifferentiated fat cell; Endothelial cell; Pericyte; Perivascular behavior.
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