Influence of hypoxia, high glucose, and low serum on the growth kinetics of mesenchymal stem cells from deciduous and permanent teeth.

The therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stromal cells depends on their ability to survive and proliferate under adverse in vivo scenarios in a particular disease. In most of the sites of injury, especially in diabetic wounds, there can be hypoxia, hyperglycemia, and ischemia, leading to a lack of nutrients. Hence, the aim of our present study was to investigate the influence of hypoxia, high glucose, and low serum concentrations on the growth kinetics and proliferative potential of human dental pulp stem cells from exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) and permanent teeth (DPSC). In this study we isolated two types of specialized stem cells from human dental pulp tissues, which were supposedly of neural crest origin, and cultured them in KO-DMEM medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS). Both SHED and DPSC were characterized for standard CD surface markers, and their ability to differentiate into adipogenic and osteogenic lineages was tested. SHED and DPSC were exposed to either hypoxia or high glucose or low serum conditions, and their growth kinetics and differentiation potentials were compared with those of normal culture conditions. We found that SHED retained their phenotypic expression and differentiation potential under hypoxia, high-glucose, and low-serum conditions and exhibited a higher proliferation in terms of cell yield and a reduced doubling time compared to DPSC. Our findings clearly demonstrate for the first time that SHED are superior to DPSC as evidenced by their enhanced proliferation under adverse culture conditions.