title: Human periodontal ligament stem cells repair mental nerve injury.
abstract: Human periodontal ligament stem cells are easily accessible and can differentiate into Schwann cells. We hypothesized that human periodontal ligament stem cells can be used as an alternative source for the autologous Schwann cells in promoting the regeneration of injured peripheral nerve. To validate this hypothesis, human periodontal ligament stem cells (1 × 10(6)) were injected into the crush-injured left mental nerve in rats. Simultaneously, autologous Schwann cells (1 × 10(6)) and PBS were also injected as controls. Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction showed that at 5 days after injection, mRNA expression of low affinity nerve growth factor receptor was significantaly increased in the left trigeminal ganglion of rats with mental nerve injury. Sensory tests, histomorphometric evaluation and retrograde labeling demonstrated that at 2 and 4 weeks after injection, sensory function was significantly improved, the numbers of retrograde labeled sensory neurons and myelinated axons were significantly increased, and human periodontal ligament stem cells and autologous Schwann cells exhibited similar therapeutic effects. These findings suggest that transplantation of human periodontal ligament stem cells show a potential value in repair of mental nerve injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Binzhou Medical College, Binzhou, Shandong Province, China.
authors.forename: Bohan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupation and Environment, Konkuk Postgraduate Medical School, Choong-Ju, Korea.
authors.forename: Hun-Jong
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Soung-Min
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Myung-Jin
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Dental Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Jahng
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea ; Dental Research Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: Schwann cells; cell transplantation; mental nerve; neural regeneration; neuroregeneration; neurotrophic factor; periodontal ligament stem cells; peripheral nerve injury; sensory nerve; stem cells