Regeneration of mental nerve of rats with the use of mesenchymal stem cells obtained from dental pulp of human primary teeth

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the regeneration of the mental nerve after injury by compression and treatment with mesenchymal stem cells obtained from human dental pulp of primary teeth of children with age ranging 5–7 years old. Thirty‐six male Wistar rats were used in this experiment and the rats had their right side mental nerve injured by compression and left side nerve used as positive controls. The right side mental nerves were then distributed in two study groups: control group with compression and no treatment (n=18) and experimental group that underwent injury by compression and treatment with mesenchymal stem cells (n=18). Animals were euthanized at different times of study: 1, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 42 days after lesion and they had their mental nerves and trigeminal ganglion removed for analysis with transmission electron microscopy. The images of neural fibers were obtained for the measurement of external circunference of mielinic fibers and thickness of mielinic layer. The nerves after 14 days of treatment showed similar morphological aspects to the intact nerve. We can conclude that the use of mesenchymal stem cells for mental nerve regeneration was effective in a single aplication after two weeks of the treatment.