Isolation, Characterization, and Differentiation of Dental Pulp Stem Cells in Ferrets

• Ferret dental pulp stem cells need to be characterized so that this model can be used more effectively in pulp regeneration studies.
• Our work has shown many similarities between ferret dental pulp stem cells and human pulp cells under similar conditions.
• Ferret dental pulp stem cells may be more inclined to express bone-specific proteins than human cells.

IntroductionThe ferret canine tooth has been introduced as a suitable model for studying dental pulp regeneration. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize ferret dental pulp stem cells (fDPSCs) and their differentiation potential.MethodsDental pulp stem cells were isolated from freshly extracted ferret canine teeth. The cells were examined for the expression of stem cell markers STRO-1, CD90, CD105, and CD146. The osteo/odontogenic and adipogenic differentiation potential of fDPSCs was evaluated. Osteogenic and odontogenic marker genes were evaluated using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) on days 1, 4, and 8 after osteo/odontogenic induction of fDPSCs including dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP), dentin matrix protein-1, osteopontin, and alkaline phosphatase. Human dental pulp cells were used as the control. The results were analyzed using 3-way analysis of variance.ResultsfDPSCs were positive for STRO1, CD90, and CD105 and negative for CD146 markers with immunohistochemistry. fDPSCs showed strong osteogenic and weak adipogenic potential. The overall expression of DSPP was not significantly different between fDPSCs and human dental pulp cells. The expression of DSPP in osteo/odontogenic media was significantly higher in fDPSCs on day 4 (P < .01). The overall expression of dentin matrix protein-1, osteopontin, and alkaline phosphatase was significantly higher in fDPSCs (P = .0005).ConclusionsfDPSCs were positive for several markers of dental pulp stem cells resembling human DPSCs and appeared to show a stronger potential to differentiate to osteoblastic rather than odontoblastic lineage.