{"id":3897,"date":"2025-01-08T23:25:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-09T02:25:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/the-difference-between-obtaining-adipose-tissue-through-a-mini-lipo-lam-and-a-lipid-biopsy-to-culture-mesenchymal-cells-from-adipose-tissue-are-both-techniques-the-same-and-effective\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T17:11:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T20:11:31","slug":"the-difference-between-obtaining-adipose-tissue-through-a-mini-lipo-lam-and-a-lipid-biopsy-to-culture-mesenchymal-cells-from-adipose-tissue-are-both-techniques-the-same-and-effective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/the-difference-between-obtaining-adipose-tissue-through-a-mini-lipo-lam-and-a-lipid-biopsy-to-culture-mesenchymal-cells-from-adipose-tissue-are-both-techniques-the-same-and-effective\/","title":{"rendered":"The difference between obtaining adipose tissue through a mini-lipo (LAM) and a lipid biopsy to culture mesenchymal cells from adipose tissue…are both techniques the same and effective?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Regenerative Medicine one of the richest sources to obtain mesenchymal cells is adipose tissue.Adipose tissue has been studied over the years, and great benefits have been found to obtain a population of adult stem cells specific for Regenerative Medicine which are mesenchymal stem cells (MSC).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

A large number of scientific publications have shown that mesenchymal cells extracted by mini ambulatory lipid extraction, i.e. LAM, or under a simple liposuction procedure (30ml to 100ml of adipose tissue) with local anesthesia, can obtain a large amount of mesenchymal cells for use at the time and that in turn, can be enhanced in a culture in our laboratory.<\/p>\n\n

With the passage of time, many physicians and researchers have tried to take their practice of obtaining mesenchymal cells to less invasive methods, or more practical or perhaps economical, in order to perform it in an office, developing the technique of lipid biopsy<\/strong>, which is to obtain a few fragments of fat or adipose tissue<\/strong>, and then send them in a sterile tube to a laboratory for the growth of mesenchymal cells.<\/p>\n\n

But the big question that many patients ask us here, the reason for this blog, is the following…<\/p>\n\n

Are both fat removal techniques equal and effective? Which one is better than the other?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Well, let’s compare<\/strong> some issues, but let’s get to the heart of the problem of taking a biopsy<\/strong> versus performing a mini ambulatory lipid extraction [LAM].<\/p>\n\n

Lipid biopsy: <\/strong>Procedure to remove fat (5 to 20 grams) through an incision, probably requiring sutures. Recovery time more than 3 days or more. Requires local anesthesia. Number of mesenchymal cells: VERY LIMITED<\/strong>. Between 2,000 and 5,000 mesenchymal stem cells [MSC]. <\/p>\n\n

Ambulatory Mini Lipid Extraction:<\/strong> Safe procedure, which uses very small cannulas to aspirate optimal amounts of fat to process in the same time and re-inject as initial treatment (called Microfat or SVF, which can be combined or not with Platelet Rich Plasma) and in turn, to send to culture mesenchymal cells. Minimally invasive, with incisions of 1mm that do not need stitches. Resolution in 24\/48hs with rapid recovery, since it is performed on an outpatient basis and the patient can return to their activities on the same day, and even sport after 12hs. Number of mesenchymal cells, VERY ABUNDANT.<\/strong> From 300,000 to 1,000,000 mesenchymal cells. <\/p>\n\n

Beyond the techniques that have advantages and disadvantages, where usually a trained physician can perform both<\/strong>, while a less trained physician who is just starting in regenerative medicine (less than 2 years of training), tends to want to perform the biopsy, because it requires more training when it is a LAM… but biologically we have VERY important differences, that one as a patient should be aware of.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

In lipid biopsy<\/strong>, when taken to a laboratory to CULTURE AND EXPAND mesenchymal cells, the number of cells that will be obtained will be very slow and limited, and at most 20 million cells can be obtained that are potentially effective. This is because the initial number of mesenchymal cells obtained has been very low and the power that these cells will use to grow to the desired number (driven by the laboratory staff) will make them less functional. <\/p>\n\n

On the other hand, in the LAM technique<\/strong>, the number of initial cells obtained is so high<\/strong> that even in Stem Cell Therapy Argentina, we have been able to expand between 200 and 300 million mesenchymal cells in a 4- to 5-week culture.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

In addition, it happens that when the sample of adipose or fat tissue is very small as in lipid biopsy<\/strong>, the laboratory staff seeking to boost that initial low number of cells (2,000 to 5,000 mesenchymal cells) to doses of 50 or 100 million, may take too long, leading to put the culture at risk, over-demanding even more growth, and in turn, culminating in the loss of the potential of mesenchymal cells and thus not such a good result for the patient.<\/p>\n\n

On the other hand, when we use the LAM technique<\/strong>, in addition to being able to perform other techniques at the time to obtain fractions and derivatives of mesenchymal cells, such as MICROFAT or SVF (stromal vascular fraction) and be able to apply it initially in the patient as a treatment, in culture in only 3 weeks we can obtain more than 100 million cells. This enhances our treatment, makes it effective and in turn, the cells are ready to be applied with great potential for their limited work they had to grow in large quantities because their initial numerical base (from 50,000 to 1,000,000) was very good quantity in obtaining by the trained physician. <\/p>\n\n

At Stem Cell Therapy Argentina, we do not recommend patients to access cultured mesenchymal cell treatments obtained by LIPID BIOPSY.<\/strong> Its scientific evidence is very scarce, the technique is not standardized and the risk of poor and low cell growth may not reach the objectives desired by the physician or the patient.<\/p>\n\n

We do advise 100%<\/strong> that patients, if they seek to undergo surgery and obtain their own mesenchymal cells, to do so through the MELA technique (mini ambulatory lipid extraction)<\/strong>, in a safe clean room, under sterile conditions, since it is a technique that has 95% of description in scientific evidence, it is simple, standardized and easy to perform by physicians who are experts in these regenerative therapies.<\/p>\n\n

References:<\/p>\n\n

References:<\/p>\n\n

Argentati, C., Morena, F., Bazzucchi, M., Armentano, I., Emiliani, C., & Martino, S. (2018). Adipose Stem Cell Translational Applications: from Bench-to-Bedside. International Journal of Molecular Sciences<\/em>, 19<\/em>(11), 3475. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijms19113475<\/p>\n\n

He, S.; Nakada, D.; Morrison, S.J. Mechanisms of stem cell self-renewal. Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol.<\/em> 2009<\/strong>, 25<\/em>, 377-406. <\/a><\/p>\n\n

Donnelly, H.; Salmeron-Sanchez, M.; Dalby, M.J. Designing stem cell niches for differentiation and self-renewal. J. R. Soc. Interface<\/em> 2018<\/strong>, 15<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

Ratajczak, M.Z. Circulating Stem Cells in Physiology and Pathology-Recent Studies Published in Stem Cell Reviews and Reports. Stem Cell Rev.<\/em> 2018<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Regenerative Medicine one of the richest sources to obtain mesenchymal cells is adipose tissue.Adipose tissue has been studied over the years, and great benefits have been found to obtain a population of adult stem cells specific for Regenerative Medicine which are mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). A large number of scientific publications have shown that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sin-categorizar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3898,"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3897\/revisions\/3898"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stemcelltherapyargentina.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}