Large-Scale Expansion of Porcine Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Based on Microcarriers System for Cultured Meat Production

Cultured meat is an innovative meat-production technology that does not rely on animal husbandry. As a new food component, cultured fat is of great significance to cultured meat. In this study, we isolated adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) and identified the purity by immunofluorescence staining of ADSC-specific surface marker proteins CD44 and CD29 and showed that most of the cells were positive for CD29 and CD44. In addition, we detected the expression of FABP4 and Plin1 to confirm that ADSCs differentiated into mature adipocytes at 10 days post-induction. Subsequently, the culture conditions of ADSCs on microcarriers (MCs) were optimized and showed that cell density of living cells reached their highest after 5 days when continuously stirring at 50 rpm. Finally, the expression of FABP4 and PPARγ was detected to confirm the adipogenic differentiation ability of ADSCs on 2D and 3D culture systems and showed that ADSCs maintained their adipogenic differentiation ability after expansion on MCs. In conclusion, this research demonstrated that reliance on MCs to expand ADSCs was a promising approach for production of cultured fat.