Medical research in regenerative medicine has brought promising perspectives for the use of stem cells in clinical trials. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells capable of multilineage differentiation and available in numerous sources in the human body. Dental pulp constitutes an attractive source of these cells since collecting mesenchymal stem cells from this site is a noninvasive practice that can be performed after a common surgical extraction of supernumerary or wisdom teeth. Thus, tissue sacrifice is very low and several cytotypes can be obtained owing to these cells' multipotency, in addition to the fact that they can be cryopreserved and stored for long periods. Mesenchymal stem cells have high proliferation rates, making them favorable for clinical application. These multipotent cells, present in biological waste, constitute an appropriate resource in the treatment of many neurological diseases. K E Y W O R D S dentistry, DPSCs, neurological diseases, neurons, regenerative medicine 2 | D P SCs Teeth are divided into two distinct anatomical parts, the crown and the root. They are connected to the supporting bone by the periodontal ligament. The crown comprises enamel, dentin, and pulp. During tooth development, ameloblasts generate enamel, and odontoblasts generate dentin. Once the tooth has erupted, enamel formation stops occurring naturally because of the disappearance of ameloblasts from the surface (Mortada et al., 2017). On the other hand, odontoblasts are present inside the pulp facing the dentin's inner surface throughout life. SignificanceThis article reviews basic characteristics of dental pulp stem cells and highlights recent evidence on their potential role in the management of several neurological diseases. J Neuro Res. 2018;96:265-272. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jnr V C 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. | 265

BackgroundNail abnormalities in childhood are generally uncommon. Recently, onychomadesis is described as a rare, late complication of hand-foot-mouth disease, which is a viral illness commonly seen in the pediatric age group. It is therefore important to elucidate the presentation of this entity, especially in the context of the hand-foot-mouth disease.Case presentationWe report a case of onychomadesis in a 9-month old Lebanese boy who presented to the emergency department with rapidly progressing nail changes involving all four extremities. These changes appeared few days after the healing of cutaneous lesions of hand-foot-mouth disease.ConclusionsThis case highlights the importance of recognizing the association between onychomadesis and hand-foot-mouth disease in order to avoid unnecessary treatment and to reassure the patient’s parents.

Recent advances in regenerative medicine and cell-based therapy are bringing promising perspectives for the use of stem cells in clinical trials. Stem cells are undifferentiated cells capable of multilineage differentiation and available in numerous sources in the human body. Dental pulp constitutes an attractive source of these cells since collecting mesenchymal stem cells from this site is a noninvasive procedure which can be done following a common surgical extraction of supernumerary or wisdom teeth. Thus tissue sacrifice is very low and several cytotypes can be obtained owing to these cells' multipotency, in addition to the fact that they can be cryopreserved and stored for long periods. Mesenchymal stem cells have high proliferation rates making them favorable for clinical application. These multipotent cells present in a biological waste constitute an appropriate support in the management of many neurological disorders. After a brief overview on the different types of dental stem cells, this chapter will focus on the characteristics of dental pulp stem cells, their handling and applications in neural tissue engineering, as well as neural induction protocols leading to their potential therapeutic use in the management of neurological diseases.

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