The efficiency of the in vitro osteo/dentinogenic differentiation of human dental pulp cells, periodontal ligament cells and gingival fibroblasts

Although the primary cell cultures from dental pulp and other oral tissue are frequently used to study osteogenic potential and stem cell responses, few systematic and comparative studies on stemness for the dentinogenic differentiation of these cells have been conducted. In the present study, to investigate the stemness of oral primary cells during extended culture, human adult dental pulp cells (hDPCs), periodontal ligament stem cells (hPDLSCs) and gingival fibroblasts (hGFs) were obtained and cultured from pulp tissue, periodontal ligaments, and marginal and attached gingival tissue of extracted third molars, respectively. As shown by fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis and immunophenotyping, the mesenchymal stem cell markers, CD44, CD73, CD90, CD146 and CD166, were highly expressed in early passage hDPCs, hPDLSCs and hGFs. However, when the cells were treated with osteogenic additives, mineralization markedly increased in the hDPCs and hPDLSCs, but not in the hGFs. Moreover, the expression of dentinogenic markers, such as dentin sialophosphoprotein and dentin matrix protein-1, appeared to decrease during extended culture past passage number 8 of the hDPCs and hPDLSCs. These data suggest that hDPCs and hPDLSCs may have differentiation potential during the early passages, and that their progenitor potential is diminished during extended culture. The hGFs did not show differentiation capability during culture, even though they contained general mesenchymal stem cell surface proteins. The transcriptional expression of dentinogenic markers in hDPCs was not affected by co-culture with hPDLSCs and/or hGFs.