title: Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells: A New Therapeutic Option for Tooth Regeneration.
abstract: Tooth regeneration is considered to be an optimistic approach to replace current treatments for tooth loss. It is important to determine the most suitable seed cells for tooth regeneration. Recently, human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) have been regarded as a promising candidate for tissue regeneration. However, it has not been reported whether hUCMSCs can be employed in tooth regeneration. Here, we report that hUCMSCs can be induced into odontoblast-like cells in vitro and in vivo. Induced hUCMSCs expressed dentin-related proteins including dentin sialoprotein (DSP) and dentin matrix protein-1 (DMP-1), and their gene expression levels were similar to those in native pulp tissue cells. Moreover, DSP- and DMP-1-positive calcifications were observed after implantation of hUCMSCs in vivo. These findings reveal that hUCMSCs have an odontogenic differentiation potency to differentiate to odontoblast-like cells with characteristic deposition of dentin-like matrix in vivo. This study clearly demonstrates hUCMSCs as an alternative therapeutic cell source for tooth regeneration.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Yuanwei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Stomatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College, Guangzhou 510120, China.
authors.forename: Yongchun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Lanfeng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Junhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Quan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Kaide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital, College of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310003, China.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu