title: [Isolation and characterization of dental follicle cells from adult human dental follicle tissues].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To isolate and characterize the dental follicle cells (DFC) from dental follicle (DF) tissues of normal human impacted third molars.
  
  
  METHODS
  DFC were isolated from the DF tissues of healthy young human impacted third molars. A limited dilution culture was used to assess DFC colony-forming efficiency. The expressions of Stro-1, Notch-1 and nestin in DFC were detected by immunohistochemistry analysis. The primary DFC cultures were subjected to a variety of treatment modes: osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic differentiation. DFC and periodontal ligament cells (PDLC) proliferation abilities were compared by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. The expressions of tenascin-N and F-spondin in DFC and PDLC were evaluated by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most DFC were spindle fibroblast-like cells. DFC cultures formed colonies from passage 1 cells and the frequency of colony forming efficiency (CFE) was 3.70%. Some of the DFC were stained positively for Stro-1 and almost all the DFC were stained positively for Notch-1 and nestin. DFC cultures displayed multipotential characteristics following fate-specific inductions for 21 days. Alizarin red positive condensed nodules were detected following osteogenic induction, oil red-positive lipid vacuoles were generated using adipogenic induction and collagen-II was revealed following chondrogenic induction by immunohistochemistry. On day 3 and 5, DFC (0.20 ± 0.01, 0.51 ± 0.09) showed a better cell activity than PDLC (0.16 ± 0.03, 0.47 ± 0.07) (P > 0.05). On day 7, DFC (1.03 ± 0.11) exhibited a higher proliferation rate than PDLC (0.93 ± 0.09) (P < 0.05). RT-PCR results showed that tenascin-N was not expressed in DFC, but expressed moderately in PDLC. F-spondin was expressed strongly in DFC, while not expressed in PDLC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  DFC from ectomesenchymal tissues showed a good viability and contained cells similar to the mesenchymal stem cells. It may be used as a novel cell source for periodontium regeneration.
authors.affiliation: School of Stomatology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiang-rong
authors.initials: XR
authors.lastname: Cheng
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003795:Dental Sac / Q000166:cytology*; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008963:Molar; D064231:Nestin / Q000378:metabolism; D051881:Receptor, Notch1 / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D019063:Tenascin / Q000378:metabolism; D023822:Tissue Engineering; D014095:Tooth, Impacted; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000954:Antigens, Surface; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins; C577484:NES protein, human; C497761:NOTCH1 protein, human; D064231:Nestin; D051881:Receptor, Notch1; C429104:SPON1 protein, human; C525591:STRO-1 antigen, human; D019063:Tenascin