Abstract
Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting almost half of the adult US population. Gingiva is an integral part of the periodontium and has recently been identified as a source of adult gingiva-derived mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs). Given the prevalence of periodontitis, the purpose of this study is to evaluate differences between GMSCs derived from healthy and diseased gingival tissues and explore their potential in bone engineering. Primary clonal cell lines were established from harvested healthy and diseased gingival and characterized for expression of known stem-cell markers and multi-lineage differentiation potential. Finally, they were cultured on electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) scaffolds and evaluated for attachment, proliferation, and differentiation. Flow cytometry demonstrated cells isolated from healthy and diseased gingiva met the criteria defining mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). However, GMSCs from diseased tissue showed decreased colony-forming unit efficiency, decreased alkaline phosphatase activity, weaker osteoblast mineralization, and greater propensity to differentiate into adipocytes than their healthy counterparts. When cultured on electrospun PCL scaffolds, GMSCs from both sources showed robust attachment and proliferation over a 7-day period; they exhibited high mineralization as well as strong expression of alkaline phosphatase. Our results show preservation of ‘stemness’ and osteogenic potential of GMSC even in the presence of disease, opening up the possibility of using routinely discarded, diseased gingival tissue as an alternate source of adult MSCs.
Highlights
Bone is a unique tissue with a remarkable potential to undergo complete regeneration following injury, even in adult life
Options include autografts and allografts; the former is associated with additional surgery and increased morbidity while the latter is associated with risk of disease with additional surgery and increased morbidity while the latter is associated with risk of disease transmission
Bone tissue engineering involves the triad of scaffolds, cells, and signaling molecules
Summary
Bone is a unique tissue with a remarkable potential to undergo complete regeneration following injury, even in adult life. The most common hard tissue graft is an autograft, where bone is taken from the patient's own body and reimplanted into the defect site. Bioengineering 2018, 5, 8 and progenitor cells that can form new bone). Autografts are limited in availability, require additional invasive surgery, and have donor site morbidity [2]. Allografts derived from human donors or cadavers eliminate donor site morbidity, are osteoconductive, and are available in large quantities. These are associated with increased costs, laborious processing, decreased mechanical strength, limited osteoinduction, and increased risk of infection. Bone tissue engineering is an alternate strategy that integrates the current advances in material science, cell biology, and bioengineering to construct viable
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