©Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2026. No commercial re-use. See Permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc.
World J Stem Cells. Feb 26, 2026; 18(2): 113694
Published online Feb 26, 2026. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v18.i2.113694
Published online Feb 26, 2026. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v18.i2.113694
Alpha-ketoglutarate enhances adipose-derived stem cells survival in wound healing by hypoxia-inducible factor 1-alpha-mediated redox homeostasis and glycogen-dependent bioenergetics
Daniyaer Dilimulati, Diyaer Dilimulati, Department of Plastic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830013, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China
Lei Cui, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, Shanghai 200072, China
Author contributions: Dilimulati Da, Dilimulati Di, and Cui L contributed to the manuscript editing and revision, data curation and analysis. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: All procedures involving human participants were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the Declaration of Helsinki. The protocol for the collection of human adipose tissue was reviewed and approved by the Ethical Research Committee of Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital (Approval No. 25KN267).
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All animal experiments were conducted in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Tongji University School of Medicine (Approval No. 2025-DW-SB-023).
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Data sharing statement: Data are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.
Corresponding author: Lei Cui, Shanghai Tenth People’s Hospital, No. 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200072, China. 14209@tongji.edu.cn
Received: September 2, 2025
Revised: October 13, 2025
Accepted: December 22, 2025
Published online: February 26, 2026
Processing time: 165 Days and 15.8 Hours
Revised: October 13, 2025
Accepted: December 22, 2025
Published online: February 26, 2026
Processing time: 165 Days and 15.8 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study reveals that preconditioning adipose-derived stem cells with α-ketoglutarate enhances their survival in burn wounds through hypoxia-inducible factor 1α-mediated dual metabolic adaptations. Hypoxia-inducible factor 1α activation simultaneously promotes glutamine metabolism for antioxidant glutathione synthesis and enhances glycogen storage for energy maintenance under stress. This metabolic reprogramming strategy significantly improves cell viability and wound healing efficacy, offering a novel approach to enhance stem cell-based therapies in regenerative medicine.