Description
Dental Pulp Stem Cells were primarily derived from the pulp tissues of exfoliated deciduous teeth, primary incisors and permanent third molar teeth. The dental pulp, third molars in particular, have been shown to be a significant stem cell source due to greater numbers of stem cells residing in the pulp. DPSCs from third molars have been shown to express developmentally important transcription factors, such as oct4, sox2, klf4, nanog and c-myc, which is an indicator of their pluri-potency. Flow-cytometry analysis revealed DPSCs were positive for CD73, CD90, CD105 and CD166, but negative for CD34, CD45 and CD133, suggesting that these cells are mesenchymal-like stem cells. Under specific culture conditions, DPSCs differentiated into osteogenic, adipogenic and neurogenic cells, as well as formed tube-like structures in Matrigel assay