Feline Adult Adipose Tissue-Derived Multipotent Stromal Cell Isolation and Differentiation.
The cat, as a species, is somewhat new to the field of adult multipotent stromal cells. Despite the relative phylogenetic distance between the domestic cat, Felis silvestris catus, and humans, they share some similar health challenges like diabetes, kidney disease and asthma. There is a plethora of current investigative efforts focused on adult adipose tissue-derived multipotent stromal cell (ASC) therapies to address these and other conditions. Given the small size of domestic cats, particular attention to optimize cell isolation from relatively little tissue is a necessary condition of feline ASC studies and therapies. Additionally, there are some unique features of culture conditions to test and confirm feline ASC plasticity. This chapter contains a few of the novel aspects of feline ASC isolation and culture.