Abstract
To evaluate the therapeutic potential of stem cells for neurodegenerative diseases, emphasis should be placed on clarifying the characteristics of the various types of stem cells. Among stem cells, dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are a cell population that is rich in cell proliferation and multipotency. It has been reported that transplantation of DPSCs has protective effects against models of neurodegenerative diseases. The protective effects are not only through differentiation into the target cell type for the disease but are also related to trophic factors released from DPSCs. Recently, it has been reported that serum-free culture supernatant of dental pulp stem cell-conditioned medium (DPCM) contains various trophic factors and cytokines and that DPCM is effective for models of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Moreover, the use of stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHEDs) has been considered. SHEDs are derived from deciduous teeth that have been disposed of as medical waste. SHEDs have higher differentiation capacity and proliferation ability than DPSCs. In addition, the serum-free culture supernatant of SHEDs (SHED-CM) contains more trophic factors, cytokines, and biometals than DPCM and also promotes neuroprotection. The neuroprotective effect of DPSCs, including those from deciduous teeth, will be used as the seeds of therapeutic drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. SHEDs will be used for further cell therapy of neurodegenerative diseases in the future. In this paper, we focused on the characteristics of DPSCs and their potential for neurodegenerative diseases.
Highlights
Specialty section: This article was submitted to Neuropharmacology, a section of the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience
Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are a cell population that is rich in cell proliferation and multipotency
It has been reported that serum-free culture supernatant of dental pulp stem cell-conditioned medium (DPCM) contains various trophic factors and cytokines and that DPCM is effective for models of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Summary
The structure of the tooth consists of three layers (Chai et al, 2000; Shi and Gronthos, 2003). It is obvious that even if DPSCs are not transplanted, treatments with CM containing the factors released from DPSCs alone exert therapeutic effects against neurodegenerative diseases There is another type of dental pulp stem cell called stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHEDs), which is found in the dental pulp of deciduous teeth. Several reports showed that transplantation of SHEDs as well as of DPSCs promoted recovery from central neuropathy in a paracrine manner via the release of various trophic factors (Inoue et al, 2013; Yamagata et al, 2013) Such transplantation may be effective for neurodegenerative diseases since SHEDs are differentiated into functionally active neuronal cells such as dopaminergic neurons (Fujii et al, 2015). It is not always easy to recover naturally exfoliated deciduous teeth immediately in order to start a SHED culture, compared to permanent (wisdom) teeth extracted in clinics
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
