Multilineage potential of STRO-1+ rat dental pulp cells in vitro

The aim of the current study was to determine whether STRO-1 selection is an effective approach for purifying rat dental pulp stem cells, and especially whether such selection is beneficial on the multilineage differentiation capacity, i.e. whether selection will account for a higher rate of differentiation or lesser variability. In this study, two cell populations (STRO-1(+) and non-sorted cells) were cultured under conditions promoting neurogenic, adipogenic, myogenic and chondrogenic differentiation. Results of light microscopy, histochemistry, and immunohistochemistry showed that STRO-1(+) cells were capable of advancing into all four differentiation pathways under the influence of inductive media. Quantitative PCR and statistical analysis on specific differentiation markers confirmed that there were significant upregulations in STRO-1(+) cells compared to the other populations, during induction culture. On the basis of our results, we concluded that: (a) rat STRO-1(+) dental pulp stem cells are capable of differentiating towards multilineage cell types, including neural cells, adipocytes, myocytes and chondrocytes; (b) the STRO-1(+) population has a more defined multilineage potential compared to non-sorted cells, probably because of its more homogeneous nature. .