Stem cells derived from "inflamed" and healthy periodontal ligament tissues and their sheet functionalities: a...

The aim of this study was to compare the properties of stem cells derived from "inflamed" and healthy periodontal ligament (PDL) tissues from patient-matched groups.

Patient-matched stem cells derived from root-attached "inflamed" and healthy PDL tissues from six donors, termed I-PDLSCs and H-PDLSCs, respectively, were investigated with regard to their stem cell properties, immunomodulatory effects and capacity to form robust cell sheets for therapeutic applications.

We found that cells derived from both sources exhibited typical mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) characteristics. However, compared with H-PDLSCs, I-PDLSCs demonstrated an increased capacity to proliferate, a greater potential to migrate and a decreased capacity to differentiate into osteoblasts in vitro. When I-PDLSCs and H-PDLSCs were co-cultured with peripheral blood mononuclear cells, the MSCs derived from "inflamed" PDL tissues exhibited impaired immunomodulation. Although I-PDLSCs led to increased collagen type I, periostin and integrin β1 content in the matrix, the cell sheets formed by I-PDLSCs were dysfunctional due to their impaired osteogenic/chondrogenic differentiation and tissue regeneration.

These data provide additional evidence that I-PDLSCs are functionally compromised compared with H-PDLSCs. Nonetheless, their dominant abundance in the available tissues indicates that stem cells derived from damaged teeth extracted due to periodontitis warrant further exploration.