Background: Obesity is a complex disease involving the accumulation of body fat that can inflict a substantial risk to health due to the potent role it plays in the development of a series of chronic diseases including cardiovascular diseases (CVD), nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLD), kidney diseases, diabetes, and some cancers. Despite all efforts made, no therapy has succeeded in reversing the obesity pandemic and its associated diseases. Herein, the aim was to study the effect of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells on obesity-induced multi-organ injuries in a diet-induced obese mouse model. Male C57BL/6 mice were fed with regular chow diet or high fat diet (HFD) to induce obesity for 15 weeks after which the mice were administered two doses of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASC-treated groups) or media as control (media-treated groups). Animals were sacrificed and adipose, hepatic, renal, and cardiac tissues were obtained for histopathological evaluation. Mice on HFD showed excessive pathological alterations such as epididymal adipose tissue expansion, hepatic fat accumulation, glomerular swelling, and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. However, treatment with ASCs significantly reversed the significant histopathological abnormalities induced by obesity. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the therapeutic effects of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells on obesity-associated complications such as NAFLD, CVD, and kidney disorders in a diet-induced obese animal model, which were partly due to the attenuation of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-6.
Keywords: Adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells; high fat diet; histopathological evaluation; multiorgan injuries; obesity.