Teeth are highly differentiated organs that are composed of multiple parts such as enamel, dentin, cementum, pulp, and periodontal tissues. Teeth and the surrounding dental tissues are a natural source of stem cells, which are collectively called dental stem cells (DSCs). The potential for clinical use of these cells lies primarily in their excellent proliferative and differentiation properties, thanks to which DSCs can be used as a therapeutic source. Another advantage of DSCs is their non-invasive and affordable acquisition. It is precisely for this use that dental stem cells derived from dental pulp, either from adult teeth (DPSCs) or from deciduous teeth (SHEDs), are very promising. In our research, we focus primarily on the osteodifferentiation potential of dental stem cells, which in the future can be applied in the treatment of damaged bones after diseases and injuries, as current methods are not sufficient in many cases. We compared these two cell types in terms of their ability to osteodifferentiate and build extracellular matrix forming a network-like structure representing bone tissue. The aim of the presented work was to compare the osteodifferentiation potential of dental stem cells, isolated from the adult patient´s dental pulp and young patient´s dental pulp. We differentiated the cells in a commercially available osteodifferentiation medium. At the same time, we compared the ability of DPSCS and SHEDS to differentiate into osteoblasts/osteocytes or odontoblasts/odontocytes in 2D conditions. We monitored the morphological changes of the cells during osteodifferentiation using light microscopy and stained the cells with Alizarin Red, which is an indicator of calcium compounds produced by osteodifferentiated cells. We analyzed and quantified the presence of mineral deposits of extracellular matrix. However, we monitored specific proteins by fluorescence microscopy. We found out, that Collagen 1 represent a major protein of bone extracellular matrix produces in vitro, which imitates the physiological bone tissue.
This work was supported by GUK 260/2023 and VEGA 1/0310/21.