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The Influence of Low- and High-Negative-Pressure Liposuction and Different Harvesting Sites on the Viability and Yield of Adipocytes and Other Nucleated Cells

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  • Fat Injection
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Abstract

Background

The volume effect of fat grafting is highly dependent on the presence of viable adipocytes and other nucleated cells within the lipoaspirate. We suspected that one of the crucial factors influencing cell viability is the negative pressure applied during the fat graft harvesting and the suitability of various harvest sites when compared to others. Despite much discussion, there is no consensus on the optimal negative pressure or the best site for harvesting so we designed an experiment to test this.

Methods

Fat graft taken under low negative pressure (− 200 mmHg) or high negative pressure (− 700 mmHg) from the thigh or abdominal regions from 21 healthy human donors was evaluated. The principal variables studied were: a) total number and viability of nucleated cells, b) liposuction duration and c) blood admixture. Other variables studied were body mass index, the impact of age and enzymatic digestion.

Results

The absolute number and viability of nucleated cells and the blood admixture did not differ significantly between lipoaspirates obtained under different vacuum conditions or from different regions. The time taken to acquire the same volume of lipoaspirate was significantly increased using low negative pressure. The time taken to collect cells in the thigh region significantly increased with increasing BMI but this correlation was not found when harvesting in the abdominal region. The BMI and age did not impact the results in any of the measured variables. The enzymatic digestion rate was independent of the negative pressure used to harvest.

Conclusion

Our results indicate that neither the negative pressure used nor the area chosen has any significant influence on the viability and yield of harvested cells. The time taken to obtain lipoaspirate using low pressure is significantly longer than when using high pressure. No significant difference was found in the value of blood admixture using different vacuum pressures, and no correlation exists between the body mass index and the cell viability or age of the patients and the time of liposuction.

Level of Evidence III

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Funding

This study was supported by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic (grant No. NU20-08-00208)—authors 1, 2, 5, 6, (including personal fee)—and by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic within LQ1604 National Sustainability Program II (Project BIOCEV-FAR)—author 2 (including personal fee)—and by the project “BIOCEV” (CZ.1.05/1.1.00/02.0109) authors 2, 6 (including personal fee).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plastic Surgery, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University and Na Bulovce University Hospital, Budínova 67/2, 180 81, Prague 8-Libeň, Czech Republic

    Martin Molitor, Ondřej Měšťák & Petros Christodoulou

  2. Department of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering, Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská, 1083, 142 20, Prague 4-Krč, Czech Republic

    Martina Trávníčková, Antonín Sedlář & Lucie Bačáková

  3. General Surgery Department, Hand Unit, Locarno’s Regional Hospital, Via Ospedale 1, 6600, Locarno, Switzerland

    Stefano Lucchina

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  1. Martin Molitor
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Correspondence to Martin Molitor.

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All authors declare no conflict of interest concerning the research, authorship and publication of this article. Financial funding of research has not any influence on the results of the research in any form.

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The study was approved by institutional Ethical Committee (Na Bulovce University Hospital, Prague). All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committees and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all human participants included in the study. Informed consent was approved by institutional Ethical Committee Na Bulovce University Hospital, Prague.

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Molitor, M., Trávníčková, M., Měšťák, O. et al. The Influence of Low- and High-Negative-Pressure Liposuction and Different Harvesting Sites on the Viability and Yield of Adipocytes and Other Nucleated Cells. Aesth Plast Surg 45, 2952–2970 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00266-021-02396-z

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