Isolation and Characterization of Dental Pulp Stem Cells and Comparative Evaluation of their Viability and Proliferation with Umbilical Cord Derived Stem Cells

Abstract

Dental pulp contains a unique population of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) commonly known as dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). The regenerative properties of DPSCs hold profound potential for its application in cell based medicine and therapies. Umbilical cord, on the other hand, is a well known surgical remnant that is usually preserved for future medical purpose. Interestingly, the MSCs present in the umbilical cord, a birth-related tissue, are adult multi-potent variety called umbilical cord stem cells (UCSCs). Both dental pulp and umbilical cord are considered as medical waste and already proved as convenient source of MSCs by several researchers. However, considering ethical issues and religious barrier, collection of human dental pulp is easier than that of umbilical cord for laboratory research and clinical usage. Keeping this in mind, the present research study was aimed to compare the viability and proliferation potential of DPSCs with UCSCs. Human premolar teeth extracted for orthodontic reason were collected for isolation of DPSCs. The viability, proliferation capacity and senescence with different passage numbers (i.e. P2 and P6) were observed in DPSCs and compared with the available published data of UCSCs.The result revealed intracellular ROS production significantly (plt0.0001) less in newlinedental pulp stem cells (DPSC) culture in comparison to umbilical cord stem cells newline(UCSC) at longer passage number (P6). The beta-gal expression also showed newlinesignificantly (plt0.0001) low expression in DPSC culture compared to that of UCSCs newlineat P6. Thus the present study demonstrated the superior proliferation potential of newlineDPSCs over UCSCs in higher passage number, which is associated with the newlinereplicative senescence associated changes. These findings will definitely improve the newlinepresent domain knowledge regarding the selection of suitable stem cell source and newlinethus it will pave the path for future research in selecting appropriate stem cell source for application in regenerative medicine. newline