title: Differences of isolated dental stem cells dependent on donor age and consequences for autologous tooth replacement.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Autologous therapy via stem cell-based tissue regeneration is an aim to rebuild natural teeth. One option is the use of adult stem cells from the dental pulp (DPSCs), which have been shown to differentiate into several types of tissue in vitro and in vivo, especially into tooth-like structures. DPSCs are mainly isolated from the dental pulp of third molars routinely extracted for orthodontic reasons. Due to the extraction of third molars at various phases of life, DPSCs are isolated at different developmental stages of the tooth.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present study addressed the question whether DPSCs from patients of different ages were similar in their growth characteristics with respect to the stage of tooth development. Therefore DPSCs from third molars of 12-30 year-old patients were extracted, and growth characteristics, e.g. doubling time and maximal cell division potential were analysed. In addition, pulp and hard dental material weight were recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Irrespective of the age of patients almost all isolated cells reached 40-60 generations with no correlation between maximal cell division potential and patient age. Cells from patients <22 years showed a significantly faster doubling time than the cells from patients ≥22 years.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The age of patients at the time of stem cell isolation is not a crucial factor concerning maximal cell division potential, but does have an impact on the doubling time. However, differences in individuals regarding growth characteristics were more pronounced than age-dependent differences.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional and Applied Anatomy, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kellner
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthetic Dentistry and Biomedical Materials Science, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: steindorff.marina@mh-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Marina M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Steindorff
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthetic Dentistry and Biomedical Materials Science, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Jürgen F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Strempel
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthetic Dentistry and Biomedical Materials Science, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Winkel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Functional and Applied Anatomy, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Mark P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Kühnel
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthetic Dentistry and Biomedical Materials Science, Hannover Medical School, 30625 Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Meike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stiesch
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002648:Child; D003782:Dental Pulp / Q000166:cytology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008964:Molar, Third / Q000601:surgery; D012038:Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D014015:Tissue Banks; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D014081:Tooth Extraction; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous
keywords: Hayflick’ limit; Stem cell banking; Tissue engineering; Tooth regeneration