The influence of the donor on dental apical papilla stem cell properties

• The stem cell quality from different dental apical papilla donors is unknown.
• Three stem cell lines from the two donors were compared.
• Differences in stem cell marker expression, cell proliferation and differentiation.
• Characteristics of stem cell lines vary from the same donor.

Stem cells from the human dental apical papilla (SCAP) can be obtained from almost all extracted wisdom teeth with an immature tooth root. Although different stem cell lines are used for studies, it remains elusive whether specific characteristics of the dental stem cell cultures such as proliferation rates or the cell differentiation potential are related to the cell source, e.g. the donor tissue of the dental apical papilla. To answer this question, we compared two independent SCAP cell lines from the same donor and compared them with a third cell line from another donor. We investigated the expression of stem cell markers, the efficiency of colony forming units, cell proliferation and the differentiation potential. Results showed particular differences for typical stem cell attributes such as stem cell marker expression, cell proliferation and the adipogenic differentiation. These differences were regardless of the donor of the cell lines. In conclusion, we suppose that stem cell characteristics of SCAP cell cultures are independent from the donor.

Figure optionsDownload high-quality image (111 K)Download as PowerPoint slide