title: Human serum promotes osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells in vitro and in vivo.
abstract: Human dental pulp is a promising alternative source of stem cells for cell-based tissue engineering in regenerative medicine, for the easily recruitment with low invasivity for the patient and for the self-renewal and differentiation potential of cells. So far, in vitro culture of mesenchymal stem cells is usually based on supplementing culture and differentiation media with foetal calf serum (FCS). FCS is known to contain a great quantity of growth factors, and thus to promote cell attachment on plastic surface as well as expansion and differentiation. Nevertheless, FCS as an animal origin supplement may represent a potential means for disease transmission besides leading to a xenogenic immune response. Therefore, a significant interest is focused on investigating alternative supplements, in order to obtain a sufficient cell number for clinical application, avoiding the inconvenients of FCS use. In our study we have demonstrated that human serum (HS) is a suitable alternative to FCS, indeed its addition to culture medium induces a high hDPSCs proliferation rate and improves the in vitro osteogenic differentiation. Furthermore, hDPSCs-collagen constructs, pre-differentiated with HS-medium in vitro for 10 days, when implanted in immunocompromised rats, are able to restore critical size parietal bone defects. Therefore these data indicate that HS is a valid substitute for FCS to culture and differentiate in vitro hDPSCs in order to obtain a successful bone regeneration in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical, Medical, Dental and Morphological Sciences with interest in Transplant, Oncology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pisciotta
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Riccio
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carnevale
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Beretti
authors.forename: Lara
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gibellini
authors.forename: Tullia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maraldi
authors.forename: Gian Maria
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Cavallini
authors.forename: Adriano
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bruzzesi
authors.forename: Anto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Pol
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000166:cytology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016922:Cellular Senescence / Q000502:physiology; D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000166:cytology*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012038:Regeneration; D044967:Serum / Q000378:metabolism*; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering