The potential of dental stem cells differentiating into neurogenic cell lineage after cultivation in different modes in vitro.

Trauma or degenerative diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) cause the loss of neurons or glial cells. Stem cell transplantation has become a vital strategy for CNS regeneration. It is necessary to effectively induce nonneurogenic stem cells to differentiate into neurogenic cell lineages because of the limited source of neurogenic stem cells, relatively difficult cultivation, and ethical issues. Previous studies have found that dental stem cells can be used for transplantation therapy. The aim of this study was to explore a better inductive mode and time point for dental stem cells to differentiate into neural-like cells and evaluate a better candidate cell. In this study, dental follicle stem cells (DFSCs), dental papilla stem cells (DPSCs), and stem cells from apical papilla (SCAPs) were cultivated in five different modes. The proliferation ability, morphology, and expression of neural marker genes were analyzed. Results showed that DFSCs showed a higher proliferation potential. The proliferation was decreased after cultivation in chemical inductive medium as cultivation modes 3 and 5. The cells could present neural-like cell morphology after cultivation with human epidermal growth factor (EGF) and fibroblast growth factor-basic (bFGF) as cultivation modes 4 and 5. The vast majority of DFSCs gene expression levels in mode 4 on the third day was upregulated significantly. In conclusion, our data suggested that different dental stem cells exhibited different neural differentiation potentials. DFSCs might be the better candidate cell type. Furthermore, cultivation mode 4 and timing of the third day may promote differentiation into neurogenic cell lineages more effectively before transplantation to treat neurological diseases.