Capacity of Human Dental Follicle Cells to Differentiate into Neural CellsIn Vitro

Abstract

The dental follicle is an ectomesenchymal tissue surrounding the developing tooth germ. Human dental follicle cells (hDFCs) have the capacity to commit to differentiation into multiple cell types. Here we investigated the capacity of hDFCs to differentiate into neural cells and the efficiency of a two-step strategy involving floating neurosphere-like bodies for neural differentiation. Undifferentiated hDFCs showed a spindle-like morphology and were positive for neural markers such as nestin, β-III-tubulin, and S100β. The cellular morphology of several cells was neuronal-like including branched dendrite-like processes and neurites. Next, hDFCs were used for neurosphere formation in serum-free medium containing basic fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor, and B27 supplement. The number of cells with neuronal-like morphology and that were strongly positive for neural markers increased with sphere formation. Gene expression of neural markers also increased in hDFCs with sphere formation. Next, gene expression of neural markers was examined in hDFCs during neuronal differentiation after sphere formation. Expression of Musashi-1 and Musashi-2, MAP2, GFAP, MBP, and SOX10 was upregulated in hDFCs undergoing neuronal differentiation via neurospheres, whereas expression of nestin and β-III-tubulin was downregulated. In conclusion, hDFCs may be another optimal source of neural/glial cells for cell-based therapies to treat neurological diseases.

Retracted: Expression of nestin in embryonic tissues and its effects on clinicopathological characteristics of patients with placenta previa

“…The expression of nestin was downregulated in human dental follicle cells after neuronal differentiation by neurosphere. 30 A previous study has also showed that nestin is a specific antigen of neural stem cells, which is found in the brain of fetuses with different gestational age, but the distribution, morphology, growth, and number of neural stem cells vary among different sites and fetuses with different gestational ages. 31 Our investigation also showed that nestin expression might be related to cell differentiation and facilitated the differentiation of precursor cells.…”

Future perspective of new tooth creation

“…All these studies confirmed the neurogenic potential of DFSCs because they originate from the embryonic neural crest [15]. Kanao et al [16] have investigated the capacity of human DFSCs to differentiate into neural cells, they concluded that DFSCs were undergoing neuronal differentiation via neurospheres, while expression of nestin andβ-IIItubulin was downregulated. Also, Heng et al [17] have inspected whether culture can enhance neural differentiation of DFSCs on decellularised matrix substrata derived from neurogenesis of human embryonic stem cells.…”

Biological Behavioral Alterations of the Post-neural Differentiated Dental Pulp Stem Cells Through an in situ Microenvironment

“…The literature indicates that Nestin expression characterizes a subset of bone marrow perivascular MSCs ( Xie et al, 2015 ). Nestin is a neuronal stem cell marker and its expression is considered a prerequisite for stem cells to differentiate into a neural lineage ( Kanao et al, 2017 ). One study reported that murine DPSCs expressing Nestin at a high level have a considerable capacity to differentiate into a neuron-like phenotype and increase the expression of MAP-2, a marker of mature neurons ( Young et al, 2016 ).…”

“…One study reported that murine DPSCs expressing Nestin at a high level have a considerable capacity to differentiate into a neuron-like phenotype and increase the expression of MAP-2, a marker of mature neurons ( Young et al, 2016 ). MAP-2 associates with actin during early axonal development ( Tatiana et al, 2010 ; Kanao et al, 2017 ). Our previous studies demonstrated that Nestin expression is significantly increased in DPSCs upon neural-induced differentiation ( Luo et al, 2018a ).…”