ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
This article is part of the Research TopicPluripotent Stem Cells in Mammal Adult TissuesView all 8 articles
Small Adipose-derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Exhibit Longer Telomeres and Enhanced Regenerative Potential
Provisionally accepted
Uldis Berzins1,2
Janis Baronins1,3*
Hermanis Sorokins1
Saurav Goel4,5Andrei Shishkin1Rosita Zvirgzdina6Aija Rautmane1
Danail Minchev7- 1Rigas Tehniska universitate, Riga, Latvia
- 2Stem Cell Technologies Ltd, Riga, Latvia
- 3UiT Norges arktiske universitet, Tromsø, Norway
- 4London South Bank University, London, United Kingdom
- 5UPES, Dehradun, India
- 6Turibas universitate, Riga, Latvia
- 7Plovdivski universitet Paisij Hilendarski, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
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Abstract: Younger, replicative cells with longer telomeres can enhance regenerative therapies, however, there is a lack of a standard method to assess telomere length in live cells. The present study investigated whether the relative size of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (AD–MSCs) can influence their telomere length. During early culture, a smaller-sized AD–MSC subpopulation was identified based on characteristic colony emergence. Telomere lengths in total and smaller-sized cell populations were measured. Polymerase chain reaction revealed expression of Nanog and OCT3/4 in small-sized AD–MSCs. Their safety was evaluated in immunodeficient BALB/c nude mice. Smaller AD–MSCs revealed distinct growth properties, with the cell monolayer rolling up into a large aggregate. These cells had longer telomeres (18,121.43 base pairs [bp]) than the total population (15,870.44 bp) and formed teratoma-like structures with skin-like morphology (including hair). In conclusion, AD–MSC size reliably isolates cells with longer telomeres and potential.
Keywords: AD–MSCs, cell rolling, Cell Size, Balb/c nude mice, Mesenchymal Stromal Cells, telomere length, hypoxia
Received: 17 Aug 2025; Accepted: 08 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Berzins, Baronins, Sorokins, Goel, Shishkin, Zvirgzdina, Rautmane and Minchev. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Janis Baronins
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