Abstract
Several stem cell sources persist in the adult human body, which opens the doors to both allogeneic and autologous cell therapies. Tooth tissues have proven to be a surprisingly rich and accessible source of neural crest-derived ectomesenchymal stem cells (EMSCs), which may be employed to repair disease-affected oral tissues in advanced regenerative dentistry. Additionally, one area of medicine that demands intensive research on new sources of stem cells is nervous system regeneration, since this constitutes a therapeutic hope for patients affected by highly invalidating conditions such as spinal cord injury, stroke, or neurodegenerative diseases. However, endogenous adult sources of neural stem cells present major drawbacks, such as their scarcity and complicated obtention. In this context, EMSCs from dental tissues emerge as good alternative candidates, since they are preserved in adult human individuals, and retain both high proliferation ability and a neural-like phenotype in vitro. In this paper, we discuss some important aspects of tissue regeneration by cell therapy and point out some advantages that EMSCs provide for dental and neural regeneration. We will finally review some of the latest research featuring experimental approaches and benefits of dental stem cell therapy.
Highlights
Stem CellsThe human body possesses several sources of stem cells that remain active during adult life
ectomesenchymal stem cells (EMSCs) from dental tissues emerge as good alternative candidates, since they are preserved in adult human individuals, and retain both high proliferation ability and a neural-like phenotype in vitro
Human adult teeth and periodontium retain populations of neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) that show characteristics of pluripotency. These stem cells, similar to other NCSCs types in the human body, are highly accessible and offer substantial additional advantages that make them good alternatives for their manipulation and clinical use: they present a high multilineage differentiation potential, high proliferative capacity, they are not oncogenic, and its obtention does not raise ethical concerns
Summary
The human body possesses several sources of stem cells that remain active during adult life. MSCs have a mesodermal origin, and they are the forming precursors of the majority of connective tissues in the organism, constituting ideal candidates for their use in connective tissue regeneration strategies Given their availability, abundance, and wellestablished methods of isolation, the potential of MSCs to generate neural cell phenotypes has been extensively tested. Evidence that mesodermal MSCs can transdifferentiate to neurons and integrate in an existing neural network is still to be provided, transplanted MSCs and other stem cells may contribute to nerve tissue regeneration by other mechanisms, such as the secretion of antiinflammatory cytokines [24, 25], and a big array of growth factors promoting cell survival and angiogenesis [26, 27]. Transplanted cells possess a significant advantage over other vehicles for trophic factor delivery, in that they are live dynamics entities capable of interacting with and adapting to their environment [38]
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