Human serum promotes osteogenic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells in vitro and in vivo

• Published in: PloS one 2012-11, Vol.7 (11), p.e50542-e50542
• Main Authors: Pisciotta, Alessandra, Riccio, Massimo, Carnevale, Gianluca, Beretti, Francesca, Gibellini, Lara, Maraldi, Tullia, Cavallini, Gian Maria, Ferrari, Adriano, Bruzzesi, Giacomo, De Pol, Anto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Apoptosis - physiology; Biocompatibility; Biology; Biomedical materials; Blood platelets; Bone and Bones - cytology; Bone growth; Bone marrow; Cell adhesion; Cell culture; Cell Differentiation - physiology; Cell number; Cell Proliferation; Cell self-renewal; Cell surface; Cells, Cultured; Cellular Senescence - physiology; Collagen; Culture media; Data processing; Dental pulp; Dental Pulp - cytology; Differentiation; Disease transmission; Extracellular matrix; Flow Cytometry; Growth factors; Humans; Immune response; Immune system; Laboratories; Male; Medicine; Mesenchymal stem cells; Mesenchyme; Morphology; Oncology; Osteogenesis - physiology; Parietal bone; Plasma; Plastics; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Regeneration; Regeneration (physiology); Regenerative medicine; Serum - metabolism; Stem Cell Transplantation; Stem cells; Stem Cells - cytology; Surgical implants; Tissue Engineering; Transplants & implants
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050542

Human dental pulp is a promising alternative source of stem cells for cell-based tissue engineering in regenerative medicine, for the easily recruitment with low invasivity for the patient and for the self-renewal and differentiation potential of cells. So far, in vitro culture of mesenchymal stem cells is usually based on supplementing culture and differentiation media with foetal calf serum (FCS). FCS is known to contain a great quantity of growth factors, and thus to promote cell attachment on plastic surface as well as expansion and differentiation. Nevertheless, FCS as an animal origin supplement may represent a potential means for disease transmission besides leading to a xenogenic immune response. Therefore, a significant interest is focused on investigating alternative supplements, in order to obtain a sufficient cell number for clinical application, avoiding the inconvenients of FCS use. In our study we have demonstrated that human serum (HS) is a suitable alternative to FCS, indeed its addition to culture medium induces a high hDPSCs proliferation rate and improves the in vitro osteogenic differentiation. Furthermore, hDPSCs-collagen constructs, pre-differentiated with HS-medium in vitro for 10 days, when implanted in immunocompromised rats, are able to restore critical size parietal bone defects. Therefore these data indicate that HS is a valid substitute for FCS to culture and differentiate in vitro hDPSCs in order to obtain a successful bone regeneration in vivo.