Hard tissue-forming potential of stem/progenitor cells in human dental follicle and dental papilla.
OBJECTIVE
The existence of stem/progenitor cells in dental tissue has been suggested but their characterization in the human tooth germ remains elusive. The purpose of this study was to investigate these cells in human dental follicles and dental papillae at the crown-forming stage and compare their potential for hard tissue formation.


METHODS
We used dental follicle cells (DFCs) and dental papilla cells (DPCs) derived from dental follicles and dental papillae at the crown-forming stage and compared their proliferative capacity, cell surface antigens and ability to form hard tissue in vitro and in vivo.


RESULTS
Both DFCs and DPCs had extensive proliferation ability, expressed similar cell surface antigens and were capable of forming hard tissue in vivo as well as in vitro. However, there were two differences between DFCs and DPCs. First, DPCs had a significantly higher calcium accumulation than that in DFCs. Second, DFCs expressed a cementoblast marker, whereas DPCs expressed an odontoblast marker.


CONCLUSIONS
We propose that dental follicles and dental papillae at the crown-forming stage contain different types of stem/progenitor cells and may have hard tissue-forming ability in a possibly origin-specific lineage direction.
Yagyuu
Takahiro
T
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Nara Medical University, 840 Shijo-cho, Kashihara, Nara 634-8521, Japan.
Ikeda
Etsuko
E
Ohgushi
Hajime
H
Tadokoro
Mika
M
Hirose
Motohiro
M
Maeda
Masahiko
M
Inagake
Kotarou
K
Kirita
Tadaaki
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D002648:Child; D003771:Dental Papilla / Q000166:cytology*; D003795:Dental Sac / Q000166:cytology*; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D051381:Rats; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*
D000954:Antigens, Surface; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase