Elsevier

Journal of Endodontics

Volume 36, Issue 3, March 2010, Pages 469-474
Journal of Endodontics

Basic Research
Deciduous and Permanent Dental Pulp Mesenchymal Cells Acquire Hepatic Morphologic and Functional Features In Vitro

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joen.2009.12.022Get rights and content

Abstract

Introduction

Mesenchymal stem cells display extensive proliferative capacity of multilineage differentiation. The stromal compartment of mesenchymal tissues is considered to harbor stem cells. We assessed the endodermal differentiation of mesenchymal cells from deciduous and wisdom tooth pulp.

Methods

Dental mesenchymal cells were isolated and expanded in vitro. After cell cultures had been established, cells were characterized using known stem cell markers. For hepatic differentiation the media was supplemented with hepatic growth factor, dexamethasone, Insulin-Transferrin-Selenium-X, and oncostatin.

Results

Both cultures showed a number of cells positive for specific hepatic markers including α-fetoprotein, albumin, and hepatic nuclear factor 4α after differentiation. Also, small clusters of cells positive for insulin-like growth factor 1 were found. The concentration of urea increased significantly in the media. Moreover, a significant amount of glycogen was found in the cells.

Conclusion

Because the cells proved to produce specific hepatic proteins and to start functions specific for hepatocytes, such as storing glycogen and urea production, we may state that the mesenchymal cell cultures from wisdom and deciduous tooth pulp acquired morphologic and functional characteristics of hepatocytes.

Section snippets

Cell Culture

All protocols for this study were reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Nippon Dental University. Deciduous (n = 5) and upper wisdom teeth (n = 5) were supplied by patients visiting Nippon Dental University Hospital and Iino Dental Office, Tokyo, Japan. Informed consent was obtained from the subjects who agreed to participate voluntarily in this study. Deciduous teeth were collected after extraction. The pulp was accessed through the resorbed tooth root canal and extracted

Stem Cell Markers in Dental Pulp

The mesenchymal cell cultures retained their fibroblast-like, spindle-shaped morphology when they were grown in normal culture conditions without growth factors. Immunocytochemical studies were performed to characterize clonogenic populations of wisdom tooth pulp cells (WTPCs) and deciduous tooth pulp cells (DTPCs) using a panel of antibodies specific to antigens associated with different phenotypes. Mesenchymal cell cultures were positive for the following pluripotent cell markers: CD117, a

Discussion

During development, interactions between ectodermal cells of the enamel organ and ectomesenchymal (neural crest-derived) cells of the dental papilla lead to the differentiation of ameloblasts and odontoblasts (16). It has been shown that progenitor cells exist in the mature tooth and that they are recruited from dental pulp to differentiate into connective tissue cells and terminally differentiated odontoblasts 1, 2. Miura et al (5) have shown that DPSCs are capable of differentiating into

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