Two methods for culture of apical papilla stem cells from immature human tooth

Abstract

Recent studies have demonstrated that populations of mesenchymal stem cells can be isolated from apical papilla tissues in immature human teeth. In this study, human apical papilla tissues were collected and sterilized with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing antibiotics. After that, apical papilla cells were isolated by two methods: outgrowth method and enzyme digestion method. The presence of mesenchymal stem cells was determined by the expression of surface markers via flow cytometry techniques and the ability to differentiate into osteoblasts and adipocytes. As a result, we have successfully cultured cells from human apical papilla tissues and proved that they have the ability to proliferate, strongly positive (≥95%) markers CD73, CD44, CD90, negative (≤2%) markers CD34, CD45, HLA-DR, and also have the ability to differentiate into osteoblasts and adipocytes. From these results, we conclude that cells isolated from apical papilla tissues are the mesenchymal stem cells. These sources of stem cells have potential applications in clinical therapy and tissue engineering.