Porcine tooth germ cell conditioned medium can induce odontogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells.

It is suggested that the differentiation of tooth-derived stem cells is modulated by the local microenvironment in which they reside. Previous studies have indicated that tooth germ cell-conditioned medium (TGC-CM) holds the potential to induce dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) to differentiate into the odontogenic lineage. Nevertheless, human TGC-CM (hTGC-CM) is not feasible in practical application, so we conjectured that xenogenic TGC-CM might exert a similar influence on human dental stem cells. In this study, we chose swine as the xenogenic origin and compared the effect of porcine tooth germ cell-conditioned medium (pTGC-CM) with its human counterpart on human DPSCs. Morphological appearance, colony-forming assay, in vitro multipotential ability, protein and gene expression of the odontogenic phenotype and the in vivo differentiation capacity of DPSCs were evaluated. The results showed that pTGC-CM exerted a similar effect to hTGC-CM in inducing human DPSCs to present odontogenic changes, which were indicated by remarkable morphological changes, higher multipotential capability and the expression of some odontogenic markers in gene and protein levels. Besides, the in vivo results showed that pTGC-CM-treated DPSCs, similar to hTGC-CM-treated DPSCs, could form a more regular dentine-pulp complex. Our data provided the first evidence that pTGC-CM is able to exert almost the same effect on DPSCs with hTGC-CM. The observations suggest that the application of xenogenic TGC-CM may facilitate generating bioengineered teeth from tooth-derived stem cells in future.

Wang YX ，Ma ZF ，Huo N ，Tang L ，Han C ，Duan YZ ，Jin Y ... -  《-》

Effect of age and extrinsic microenvironment on the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of rat dental pulp stem cells in vitro.

Ma D ，Ma Z ，Zhang X ，Wang W ，Yang Z ，Zhang M ，Wu G ，Lu W ，Deng Z ，Jin Y ... -  《-》

Differentiation of dental pulp stem cells into regular-shaped dentin-pulp complex induced by tooth germ cell conditioned medium.

Yu J ，Deng Z ，Shi J ，Zhai H ，Nie X ，Zhuang H ，Li Y ，Jin Y ... -  《-》

Dental pulp stem cells from traumatically exposed pulps exhibited an enhanced osteogenic potential and weakened odontogenic capacity.

Traumatic pulp exposure can bring about some permanent damages to tooth tissues including dental pulps. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of traumatic pulp exposure on the osteo/odontogenic capacity of dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). Rat incisors were artificially fractured and dental pulps were exposed to the oral environment for 48 h. Then, multi-colony-derived DPSCs from the injured pulps (iDPSCs) were isolated. Their osteo/odontogenic differentiation and the involvement of NF-κB pathway were subsequently investigated. iDPSCs presented a lower proliferative capacity than normal DPSCs (nDPSCs), as indicated by MTT and FCM assay. ALP levels in iDPSCs were significantly higher (P<0.01) than those in nDPSCs. Alizarin red staining revealed that iDPSCs exhibited an increased capacity of calcium deposition. Moreover, iDPSCs expressed stronger osteogenic markers (Runx2/RUNX2 and Ocn/OCN) and less odontogenic gene/protein (Dspp/DSP) than nDPSCs in vitro. In vivo transplantation showed that nDPSCs implants generated the typical dentine-pulp complex while all iDPSCs pellets formed the osteodentin-like tissues which were immunopositive for OCN. Mechanistically, iDPSCs expressed the higher levels of cytoplasmic phosphorylated IκBα/P65 and nuclear P65 than nDPSCs, indicating an active cellular NF-κB pathway in iDPSCs. After the inhibition of NF-κB pathway, the osteogenic potential in iDPSCs was significantly down-regulated while odontogenic differentiation was up-regulated, as indicated by the decreased Alp/Runx2/Ocn and uprised Dspp expression. Pulp exposure for 48 h decreased the odontogenic capacity and enhanced the osteogenic potential of DPSCs via the NF-κB signalling pathway.

Wang Y ，Yan M ，Wang Z ，Wu J ，Wang Z ，Zheng Y ，Yu J ... -  《-》

Amniotic fluid-derived mesenchymal stem cells lead to bone differentiation when cocultured with dental pulp stem cells.

De Rosa A ，Tirino V ，Paino F ，Tartaglione A ，Mitsiadis T ，Feki A ，d'Aquino R ，Laino L ，Colacurci N ，Papaccio G ... -  《-》