Characterization of pulp and follicle stem cells from impacted supernumerary maxillary incisors

The purpose of this study was to characterize dental pulp and dental follicle stem/progenitor cells (DPSCs and DFSCs) from the same impacted supernumerary maxillary incisors (ISMIs).

DPSCs and DFSCs were obtained from ISMIs of healthy children (six to 12 years old) by the outgrowth culture method and were compared for proliferation, colony-forming capacity, gene expression, cell surface markers, and trilineage differentiation capacity.

The volume of follicle tissue obtained was much larger than that for pulp tissue. DPSCs and DFSCs showed fibroblast-like morphology, expressed the stem cell-associated genes, OCT4 and NANOG, and were positive for CD146, CD90, and CD105 but negative for CD45. The cell proliferation rate and colony-forming capacity of DFSCs were significantly higher than those for DPSCs. Under inductive culture conditions, DPSCs and DFSCs differentiated into osteogenic, adipogenic, and chondrogenic lineage cells.

These results demonstrated that dental pulp and dental follicle stem/progenitor cells have similar mesenchymal stem cell characteristics, but DFSCs are easily accessible for cell culture and have a higher proliferation capacity than DPSCs. It also appears that dental follicle stem/progenitor cells might have some advantages as a stem cell resource for regenerative medicine.