[Culture and characteristics of porcine dental papilla cells (pDPCs) in vitro].
OBJECTIVE
To culture porcine dental papilla cells (pDPCs) and to study the cytobiological characteristics of the cells in vitro.


METHODS
Dental papillae were collected from postnatal (1-3 days) pigs, then the pDPCs were isolated and cultured through the method of enzyme-digestion. Vimentin and cytokeratin (CK) were used to demonstrate the cells' mesenchymal derivation. Collagen I collagen III and dentin sialoprotein (DSP) were detected in pDPCs by immunohistochemistry.


RESULTS
The pDPCs were well cultured in the medium of DMEM/F12 containing 10% FBS in vitro. Vimentin was positively expressed in pDPCs but CK was not. Collagen I, collagen III, and DSP were all positive in the plasma of the pDPCs.


CONCLUSIONS
The pDPCs were successfully isolated and cultured in vitro. The pDPCs come from mesenchymal tissue and have the capability of synthesizing extracellular matrix (collagen I, collagen III, and DSP) of dentin-pulp complex. This study indicated that the pDPCs may have the potential to be used as seed cell in regeneration of dentin-pulp complex.
Fu
Yuan-fei
YF
Department of Prosthodontics, School of Stomatology, Ninth People's Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200011, China.
Zhang
Fu-qiang
FQ
Wu
Wei
W
Weng
Yu-lai
YL