The potential roles of dental pulp stem cells in peripheral nerve regeneration

Abstract

Peripheral nerve diseases are significantly correlated with severe fractures or trauma and surgeries, leading to poor life quality and impairment of physical and mental health. Human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are neural crest stem cells with a strong multi-directional differentiation potential and proliferation capacity that provide a novel cell source for nerve regeneration. DPSCs are easily extracted from dental pulp tissue of human permanent or deciduous teeth. DPSCs can express neurotrophic and immunomodulatory factors and, subsequently, induce blood vessel formation and nerve regeneration. Therefore, DPSCs yield valuable therapeutic potential in the management of peripheral neuropathies. With the purpose of summarizing the advances in DPSCs and their potential applications in peripheral neuropathies, this article reviews the biological characteristics of DPSCs in association with the mechanisms of peripheral nerve regeneration.

The potential therapeutic roles of dental pulp stem cells in spinal cord injury

“…Previous studies have demonstrated DPSCs show the potential therapies for SCI through multiple mechanisms, mainly involving neuronal differentiation, paracrine effects and exosome secretion ( Xu et al, 2019 ; Bonaventura et al, 2020 ; Fu et al, 2023 ) ( Figure 2 ).…”

“…Isolated DPSCs can not only maintain and repair periodontal tissue, with the feature of high proliferation rate, but also show plasticity in multi-lineage differentiation. Several in vitro studies have confirmed DPSCs have the potential to differentiate into multiple cell types such as osteoblasts-, chondrocytes-, adipocytes-, odontoblasts-, neural- and myocytes-like cells ( Fu et al, 2023 ) ( Figure 2 ).…”

“…Furthermore, DPSCs have some biological advantages over other tissue-derived MSCs. Because the dental pulp has similar structure like neurovascular tissue, DPSCs have very higher ability to generate neural and vascular cells than other MSCs ( Luzuriaga et al, 2020 ; Fu et al, 2023 ). And It has been demonstrated the secretion of nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) by DPSCs are very higher than bone mesenchymal stem cells .…”

Advancements in Spinal Cord Injury Repair: Insights from Dental-Derived Stem Cells

“…DPSCs, first derived from the dental pulp in 2000 by Gronthos [ 51 ], share characteristics with mesenchymal stem cells, including plasticity, adhesiveness, and a fibroblast-like morphology [ 45 ]. Notably, DPSCs express neurotrophic and immunomodulatory factors, promoting blood vessel formation and nerve regeneration [ 52 ].…”

Techniques and graft materials for repairing peripheral nerve defects

“…These neurotrophic components may help injured axons survive longer and encourage their regeneration. It has been demonstrated that transplanting SCs seeds into a nerve conduit can improve axonal regeneration ( 71 , 72 ). The utilization of autologous stem cells in clinical settings is limited due to various factors, such as the occurrence of morbidity at the donor site, challenges associated with acquiring and rapidly expanding a substantial quantity of stem cells, the requirement for sequential surgical procedures with short intervals (one for harvesting and expanding stem cells and another for nerve gap repair), and the decline in stem cell numbers with advancing age ( 73 ).…”