Evaluation of centrifugation technique and effect of epinephrine on fat cell viability in autologous fat injection.

Abstract

Centrifugation helps refine autologous fat for use as an injectable filler, but the process can be injurious to fat cells. Epinephrine may be harmful to fat cells. We studied the effects of different centrifugation levels and epinephrine dosages on fat cell viability. Autologous fat was obtained from 8 patients who underwent lipoplasty, and the fat samples were centrifuged for 1, 3, and 5 minutes at 1500, 3000, and 5000 revolutions per minute (RPM), respectively, with uncentrifuged fat used as a control. Fat was also obtained from 8 patients undergoing autologous fat injection who had received anesthesia in a mixture of Hartman solution and a 2% lidocaine solution. The samples were mixed with epinephrine at ratios of 1:100,000, 1:200,000, and 1:400,000; a sample without epinephrine served as a control. The samples were centrifuged at 3000 RPM for 3 minutes. Fat cell viability for both experiments was evaluated by the number of surviving cells. Cell survival rates were significantly lower for the groups centrifuged at 1500 and 3000 RPM for more than 5 minutes and for the group centrifuged at 5000 RPM for more than 1 minute. There was no significant difference in survival rates among the samples mixed with different ratios of epinephrine. Centrifugation with 3000 RPM for 3 minutes is recommended. The effect of epinephrine on fat cell viability is negligible.