title: Donor age-related biological properties of human dental pulp stem cells change in nanostructured scaffolds.
abstract: The aim of the present work is to study how biological properties, such as proliferation and commitment ability, of human adult dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) relate to the age of the donor. Human dental pulps were extracted from molars of healthy adult subjects aged 16 to >66 years. DPSCs were isolated and cultured in the presence of osteogenic, neurogenic, or vasculogenic differentiation medium. Proliferation ability was evaluated by determining doubling time, and commitment ability was evaluated by gene expression and morphological analyses for tissue-specific markers. The results confirm a well-defined proliferative ability for each donor age group at an early in vitro passage (p2). DPSCs from younger donors (up to 35 years) maintain this ability in long-term cultures (p8). Stem cells of all age donor groups maintain their commitment ability during in vitro culture. In vivo tests on the critical size defect repair process confirmed that DPSCs of all donor ages are a potent tool for bone tissue regeneration when mixed with 3D nanostructured scaffolds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Eriberto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bressan
authors.forename: Letizia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferroni
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gardin
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pinton
authors.forename: Edoardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stellini
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Botticelli
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sivolella
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zavan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D053687:Adult Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001861:Bone Regeneration; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000378:metabolism*; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D014019:Tissue Donors; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds; D055815:Young Adult