In vitro Cytotoxicity Evaluation of Flowable Hyaluronic Acid–Acellular Stromal Vascular Fraction (HA–aSVF) Mixture for Tissue Engineering Applications

BACKGROUND: The stromal vascular fraction (SVF) is an aqueous fraction isolated from the adipose tissue that constitutes different kinds of cells and extracellular matrix components. Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a linear polysaccharide in vertebrate tissues and is considered a potential tissue engineering scaffold due to its biocompatible nature. In this study, we have evaluated the cytotoxicity of xenofree HA in combination with an acellular component of adipose SVF (HA–aSVF) to propose it as a candidate biomaterial for future applications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 3-(4,5-dimethyl thiazolyl-2)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay of L-929 cells treated with HA–aSVF was used in our study. Data were normalized to cell control (untreated) and extracts of copper and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene were used as positive (PC) and negative controls (NC). RESULTS: Fibroblast cells retained the morphology after 24 h of treatment with HA–aSVF mixture and exhibited a similar percentage of cell activity compared to NC. PC showed a positive cytotoxic response as expected. The cells incubated with HA–aSVF showed a linear increase in cell activity indicating proliferation. CONCLUSION: The mixture of HA and acellular SVF in its flowable form is non-cytotoxic and showed improved cell proliferation. Hence the mixture can be proposed as a biomaterial and can be further explored for specific tissue engineering applications.