Dental stem cells - characteristics and potential

Sanja Bojic, Vladislav Volarevic, Biljana Ljujic and Miodrag Stojkovic

Center for Molecular Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Kragujevac, Serbia

Offprint requests to: Prof. Miodrag Stojkovic, PhD, Center for Molecular Medicine and Stem Cell Research, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Kragujevac, Svetozara Markovica 69, 34000 Kragujevac, Serbia. e-mail: mstojkovic@spebo.co.rs

Summary. Soft dental tissues have been identified as easily accessible sources of multipotent postnatal stem cells. Dental stem cells are mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) capable of differentiating into at least three distinct cell lineages: osteo/odontogenic, adipogenic and neurogenic. They express various markers including those specific for MSC, embryonic stem cells and neural cells. Five different types of dental stem cells have been isolated from mature and immature teeth: dental pulp stem cells, stem cells from exfoliated deciduous teeth, periodontal ligament stem cells, stem cells from apical papilla and dental follicle progenitor cells. Dental stem cells may be used in dental tissue engineering including dental, enamel and periodontal tissue regeneration. They could also be used as a promising tool in potential treatment of neurodegenerative, ischemic and immune diseases. Histol Histopathol 29, 699-706 (2014)

Key words: Dental Pulp Stem Cells, Stem cells from Human Exfoliated Deciduous teeth, Periodontal Ligament Human Stem Cells, Stem Cells from Apical Papilla, Dental Follicle Progenitor Cells

DOI: 10.14670/HH-29.699