Therapeutic applications of dental pulp stem cells in regenerating dental, periodontal and oral-related structures

Abstract

Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) have emerged as a promising tool with great potential for use in tissue regeneration and engineering. Some of the main advantages of these cells are their multifaceted differentiation capacity, along with their high proliferation rate, a relative simplicity of extraction and culture that enables obtaining patient-specific cell lines for their use in autologous cell therapy. PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar databases were searched for relevant articles related to the use of DPSCs in regeneration of dentin-pulp complex (DPC), periodontal tissues, salivary gland and craniomaxillofacial bone defects. Few studies were found regarding the use of DPSCs for regeneration of DPC. Scaffold-based combined with DPSCs isolated from healthy pulps was the strategy used for DPC regeneration. Studies involved subcutaneous implantation of scaffolds loaded with DPSCs pretreated with odontogenic media, or performed on human tooth root model as a root slice. Most of the studies were related to periodontal tissue regeneration which mainly utilized DPSCs/secretome. For periodontal tissues, DPSCs or their secretome were isolated from healthy or inflamed pulps and they were used either for preclinical or clinical studies. Regarding salivary gland regeneration, the submandibular gland was the only model used for the preclinical studies and DPSCs or their secretome were isolated only from healthy pulps and they were used in preclinical studies. Likewise, DPSCs have been studied for craniomaxillofacial bone defects in the form of mandibular, calvarial and craniofacial bone defects where DPSCs were isolated only from healthy pulps for preclinical and clinical studies. From the previous results, we can conclude that DPSCs is promising candidate for dental and oral tissue regeneration.

Keywords: Dental pulp stem cells; Dentin-pulp complex; Periodontal tissues; Salivary glands; Cell-based therapy; Cell-free therapy

Core Tip: Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) can be isolated from the pulps of impacted teeth requiring surgical extraction or from teeth extracted for orthodontic reasons. In addition, there is growing evidence that DPSCs can be isolated from inflamed pulps derived from carious teeth with symptomatic irreversible pulpitis. DPSCs are neural crest in origin, and thus they differentiate into an astonishing array of cell types and tissues and regenerate structures that have the same developmental origin, like dentin-pulp complex, periodontal tissues, stromal tissues of salivary glands and craniomaxillofacial bone defects.