Dental pulp stem cells derived conditioned medium promotes angiogenesis in hindlimb ischemia

Abstract

Paracrine effects of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been suggested play an important role in the treatment of ischemic diseases. Dental pulp Stem cells (DPSCs) share many properties with MSCs. However, the beneficial effects of DPSCs on ischemic diseases remain to be elucidated. The present study, we found that DPSCs secreted higher levels angiogenic factors of VEGF, SDF-1, MCP-1 and PDGF-BB compared with AD-MSCs. We then investigated whether DP-CM can induce the migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) and human umbilical venous endothelial cells (HUVECs) in vitro. Under hypoxia, the apoptosis of HUVECs was inhibited while survival was improved by treatment of DP-CM. In a H2O2-induced cell death assay, DP-CM also significantly reduced HUVECs oxidative stress compare to control group. The tube formation assay demonstrated that the DP-CM group had a greater angiogenic potential than control medium. Results in the mouse model showed both the laser Doppler perfusion index and the relative number of CD31 positive microvessels to be significantly higher in the DP-CM group than in the control group [(77%±11%) vs. (45%±6%), and (6.2±1.1)/HPF vs. (2.3±0.3)/HPF]. In this way, the use of DP-CM may be a suitable means of treating ischemic diseases.