Nervonic acid improves the fat transplantation by promoting adipogenesis and angiogenesis

Adipose tissue engraftment has become a promising strategy for reconstruction in the field of regenerative surgery. However, there are significant challenges such as reabsorption of 50–90% of the transplanted fat or cyst formation due to fat necrosis after fat transplantation. Thus, identifying novel materials or methods to improve the engraftment efficiency is crucial. Here, we investigated the effects of nervonic acid (NA) on adipogenesis and fat transplantation and its underlying mechanisms. We found that NA treatment accelerated adipogenesis through activation of the AKT/mTOR pathway and inhibition of Wnt signaling. Additionally, NA treatment enriched the expression of AKT-mTOR signaling-related genes and increased the expression of genes involved in angiogenesis and fat differentiation. Furthermore, NA effectively improved the outcome of adipose tissue engraftment. Treatment of NA reduced the resorption of transplanted fat and increased the proportion of perilipin-1+ adipocytes with a lower portion of vacuoles. Moreover, the NA-treated group showed decreased pro-inflammatory response and had more CD31+ vessel structures, which were relatively evenly distributed among viable adipocytes, facilitating the successful engraftment. In summary, we demonstrated that NA not only stimulates adipogenesis by regulating in human MSCs but improve the outcome of fat transplantation by reducing inflammation and stimulating angiogenesis. We suggest that NA could be an adjuvant strategy to support the fat transfer in regenerative surgery.