Effects of adipose tissue and human body characteristics on lipocyte viability

Abstract

Introduction The outcome of fat grafting is still hardly predictable. Complications after fat grafting affect more than 5% of patients and the causes are usually unclear [1]. One of the most important factors for successful fat grafting is thought to be lipocyte viability (LV) [2]. In the last decade, only a handful of studies have looked at the effect of body mass index (BMI) on LV and found no association [3] [4]. There have been no studies investigating the relationship between the oil mass (OM) inlipoaspirate, haemoglobin (Hb), total flap weight (TFW) and LV. Aim To evaluate the influence of BMI, OM in lipoaspirate, Hb, TFW, and age on LV after fatliposuction. Methods The prospective study included 54 women who underwent abdominoplasty with abdominal skin flap removal and underwent Suction-assisted liposuction in a Nordclinic in 2021. Parameters such as BMI, and TFW, Hb were included. Inclusion criteria were age between 20 and 30, no co-morbidities or harmful habits. A total of 108 fat tubes were collected. In the laboratory, adipocytes were isolated from lipoaspirate. Enzymatic isolation and centrifugation methods were used and samples were separated into three fractions: the upper of oil, the middle of mature adipocytes and a lower fraction of water. Then adipocytes were sampled from the central part of the adipocyte layer. The cells were stained with Hoechst nucleus-selective dye. Alamar Blue Assay was used to assess LV. Purified adipocytes were incubated at 37°C. Absorbance was measured with a spectrophotometer (Tecan Sunrise) at 570 and 600 nm. Data analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 9 software package. The normality of data was assessed with the Kolmogorov- Smirnov test. Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients were used. For descriptive statistics means (±), and median values (min-max) were used. A significance level of0.05 was chosen to test statistical hypotheses. Results The study included 54 women who underwent abdominoplasty suction-assisted lipectomy and had no side diseases or harmful habits. The median age of 27 (24-29) years. A total of 108 samples were tested (mean viability, 56.74 ±10.33). The median of OM was 5,78%(0.38% - 17.42%). The median of Hb was 132g/l (117g/l - 145g/l). The median of TFW was 2521g (629g - 5651g). The mean BMI was 29.22 (±2.68).A positive moderate statistically significant correlation was found between the LV and the amount of OM in lipoaspirate (r=0.5362 p<0.05). A positive very weak statistically not significant correlation was found between BMI, TWF and LV (r=0.0191; r=0.0058; p>0.05). We found very weak negative not significant correlations between age, Hb and LV (r=-0.0515; r=-0.0428;p>0.05). Conclusions Greater LV may be associated with higher OM. Higher OM in lipoaspirate increases the likelihood of good LV in fat grafting if oil were removed from the total lipoaspirate mass.