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Updated: Mar 28, 2026
Development of a Direct Pulp-capping Model for the Evaluation of Pulpal Wound Healing and Reparative Dentin Formation in Mice
Published on: January 12, 2017
Systemically Transplanted Bone Marrow-derived Cells Contribute to Dental Pulp Regeneration in a Chimeric Mouse Model
Wenan Xu1, Shan Jiang2, Qiuyue Chen3
1Department of Stomatology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China; Anatomical Institute of Minimally Invasive Surgery, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
Introduction:
Migratory cells via blood circulation or cells adjacent to the root apex may potentially participate in dental pulp tissue regeneration or renewal. This study investigated whether systemically transplanted bone marrow cells can contribute to pulp regeneration in a chimeric mouse model.
Methods:
A chimeric mouse model was created through the injection of bone marrow cells from green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic C57BL/6 mice into the tail veins of recipient wild-type C57BL/6 mice that had been irradiated with a lethal dose of 8.5 Gy from a high-frequency linear accelerator. These mice were subjected to pulpectomy and pulp revascularization. At 1, 4, and 8 weeks after surgery, in vivo animal imaging and histologic analyses were conducted.
Results:
In vivo animal imaging showed that the green biofluorescence signal from the transplanted GFP+ cells increased significantly and was maintained at a high level during the first 4 weeks after surgery. Immunofluorescence analyses of tooth specimens collected at 8 weeks postsurgery showed the presence of nestin+/GFP+, α smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)/GFP+, and NeuN/GFP+ cells within the regenerated pulplike tissue.
Conclusions:
These data confirm that transplanted bone marrow-derived cells can contribute to dental pulp regeneration.
