Dental Pulp Stem Cells Derived From Adult Human Third Molar Tooth: A Brief Review

Abstract

The fields of regenerative medicine and stem cell-based tissue engineering have the potential of treating numerous tissue and organ defects. The use of adult stem cells is of particular interest when it comes to dynamic applications in translational medicine. Recently, dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) have been traced in third molars of adult humans. DPSCs have been isolated and characterized by several groups. DPSCs have promising characteristics including self-renewal capacity, rapid proliferation, colony formation, multi-lineage differentiation, and pluripotent gene expression profile. Nevertheless, genotypic, and phenotypic heterogeneities have been reported for DPSCs subpopulations which may influence their therapeutic potentials. The underlying causes of DPSCs’ heterogeneity remain poorly understood; however, their heterogeneity emerges as a consequence of an interplay between intrinsic and extrinsic cellular factors. The main objective of the manuscript is to review the current literature related to the human DPSCs derived from the third molar, with a focus on their physiological properties, isolation procedures, culture conditions, self-renewal, proliferation, lineage differentiation capacities and their prospective advances use in pre-clinical and clinical applications.

Hypoxia‑induced mitophagy regulates proliferation, migration and odontoblastic differentiation of human dental pulp cells through FUN14 domain‑containing 1

“…These flow cytometry profiles are consistent with the characteristics of mesenchymal stem cells ( Fig. 2G ) ( 24 ).…”

Strategies to Convert Cells into Hyaline Cartilage: Magic Spells for Adult Stem Cells

“…Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) originate from neural crest cells and demonstrate MSC features, such as colony formation in vitro [ 180 ], a rapid proliferation rate, a strong capacity to self-renew and multiple differentiation potentials [ 181 , 182 ]. DPSCs have the classical MSC surface markers and lack CD11b, CD14, CD19, CD34, CD45, CD79a and HLA-DR transmembrane proteins [ 182 , 183 ]. The DPSC harvesting method is minimally invasive [ 184 , 185 , 186 ].…”

Gangliosides and Their Role in Multilineage Differentiation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells

“…DPSCs are multipotent stem cells [ 108 , 109 ] from highly vascularized connective tissue located in the center of the cavity of permanent third molars or in other dental tissues, such as the periodontal ligament, the gingival mucosa, the apical papilla, the dental follicle, or the dental pulp of childhood deciduous teeth [ 110 ] that show the properties of MSCs [ 111 , 112 , 113 ]. DPSCs were initially isolated and characterized by Gronthos et al [ 114 ] and, in recent decades, they became the most studied type of dental stem cells, thanks to their easy extraction, absence of ethical issues, and relative abundance as biological waste from dental clinics [ 115 ].…”