Odontogenic potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate the odontogenic potential of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) for seeding in tooth regeneration.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, BM-MSCs were co-cultured with oral epithelial cells derived from rat embryos. Expression of the odontogenic genes Pax9, DMP1, and DSPP was detected by the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. To further characterize the odontogenic potential of BM-MSCs, the gold standard in vivo transplantation system was used.

RESULTS: The results revealed that Pax9, DMP1, and DSPP expression was detected by RT-PCR only after co-culture of BM-MSCs and oral epithelial cells derived from embryos age E11.5. Histological analyses of the BM-MSCs/epithelial cell mass demonstrated the presence of tooth-like structures.

CONCLUSIONS: The series of experiments both in vitro and in vivo demonstrated that BM-MSCs can differentiate into functional odontoblast-like cells. This implies that BM-MSCs may become a novel source of cells for seeding in tooth regeneration research.