Where are adult stem cells found in the body?
Adult stem cells are found in many organs, including bone marrow, skin, gut, skeletal muscle, brain and the rim of the cornea. Mesenchymal stromal cells can also be isolated from fat tissue, umbilical cord Wharton's jelly and dental pulp. The cells usually sit in a specialised microenvironment, or niche, which controls when they divide and when they produce mature cells.
Answer
Tissue locations are described by the National Academies report [1] and by reviews [2][3]. Limbal stem cells sit at the edge of the cornea [10].
Stem cells in cosmetic surgery
In cosmetic surgery, "stem cell" procedures almost always use adipose-derived stem cells. The stromal vascular fraction (SVF), which contains them, is separated from liposuctioned fat and mixed into the fat being grafted, as in stem cell breast augmentation and stem cell fat grafting.
Sources
- journalAdult Stem Cells – Stem Cells and the Future of Regenerative Medicine — National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (National Academies Press, via NCBI Bookshelf) · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- journalMultipotent to Pluripotent Properties of Adult Stem Cells — Stem Cells International (Hindawi), via PubMed Central · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- journalAdult stem cells and their trans-differentiation potential—perspectives and therapeutic applications — Journal of Molecular Medicine (Hombach-Klonisch et al.), via PubMed Central · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- academicMinimal criteria for defining multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells. The International Society for Cellular Therapy position statement — Cytotherapy 8(4):315-317 (Dominici et al.) · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- journalContinuous and differential improvement in worldwide access to hematopoietic cell transplantation: activity has doubled in a decade with a notable increase in unrelated and non-identical related donors — Haematologica (Atsuta et al.) · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- journalOne and a half million hematopoietic stem cell transplants: continuous and differential improvement in worldwide access with the use of non-identical family donors (Niederwieser D, et al., Haematologica 107(5):1045-1053) — Haematologica · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- governmentFDA approves remestemcel-L-rknd for steroid-refractory acute graft versus host disease in pediatric patients — U.S. Food and Drug Administration · accessed Nov 12, 2026 · Evidence page
- governmentConsumer Alert on Regenerative Medicine Products Including Stem Cells and Exosomes — U.S. Food and Drug Administration · accessed Nov 12, 2026 · Evidence page
- governmentPatient and Consumer Warning about Potential Serious Risks of Harm following Use of Unapproved Products from Human Cells or Tissues — U.S. Food and Drug Administration · accessed Nov 12, 2026 · Evidence page
- governmentFirst stem-cell therapy recommended for approval in EU (press release) — European Medicines Agency · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- governmentHoloclar – EPAR — European Medicines Agency · accessed Nov 10, 2026 · Evidence page
- organizationStem Cell Resources for Patients — International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) · accessed Sep 22, 2026 · Evidence page