Isolation and Characterization of Human Dental Pulp Stem/Stromal Cells From Nonextracted Crown-fractured Teeth Requiring Root Canal Therapy

Introduction: Human dental pulp stem/stromal cells (hDPSCs) in adults are primarily derived from the pulp tissues of permanent third molar teeth in existing literatures, whereas no reports exist, to our knowledge, on deriving hDPSCs from a tooth without the need for surgical procedure. The aim of this study was to raise a novel idea to source hDPSCs from complicated crown-fractured teeth requiring root canal therapy. Methods: hDPSCs were harvested from the pulp tissues for two complicated crown-fractured teeth requiring root canal therapy, retaining the teeth for subsequent prosthodontic rehabilitation, in a 41-year-old woman who had suffered a motorcycle accident. Pulp tissue from the left lower deciduous canine of a healthy 10-year-old boy (the positive control) was also removed because of high mobility and cultured for hDPSCs. Results: The hDPSCs derived from the two complicated crown-fractured teeth and the deciduous tooth were able to differentiate into adipogenic, chondrogenic, and osteogenic lineages and also expressed stem cells markers and differentiation markers, which indicated their stem cell origin and differentiation capability. In addition, hDPSCs from both the complicated crown-fractured teeth and the deciduous tooth showed high expression for bone marrow stem cell markers including CD29, CD90, and CD105 and exhibited very low expression of markers specific for hematopoietic cells such as CD14, CD34, and CD45. Conclusions: This report describes the successful isolation and characterization of hDPSCs from the pulp tissue of complicated crown-fractured teeth without tooth extraction. Therefore, pulp exposed in complicated crown-fractured teeth might represent a valuable source of personal hDPSCs. (J Endod 2009;35:673-681)