DPSCs Show Promise for Healing Peripheral Nerve Injuries
This paper covers recent advances indicating dental pulp as a promising cell source for nerve regeneration.
ABSTRACT
Neural crest derived stem cells from dental pulp and tooth-associated stem cells for peripheral nerve regeneration.
Neural Regen Res. 2020 Mar;15(3):373-381. doi: 10.4103/1673-5374.266043.
Pisciotta A1, Bertoni L1, Vallarola A2, Bertani G1, Mecugni D3, Carnevale G1.
Author information
- Department of Surgery, Medicine, Dentistry and Morphological Sciences with Interest in Transplant, Oncology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
- Department of Surgery, Medicine, Dentistry and Morphological Sciences with Interest in Transplant, Oncology and Regenerative Medicine, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena; Azienda USL – Institute and Health Care (IRCCS) di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
Abstract
The peripheral nerve injuries, representing some of the most common types of traumatic lesions affecting the nervous system, are highly invalidating for the patients besides being a huge social burden. Although peripheral nervous system owns a higher regenerative capacity than does central nervous system, mostly depending on Schwann cells intervention in injury repair, several factors determine the extent of functional outcome after healing. Based on the injury type, different therapeutic approaches have been investigated so far. Nerve grafting and Schwann cell transplantation have represented the gold standard treatment for peripheral nerve injuries, however these approaches own limitations, such as scarce donor nerve availability and donor site morbidity. Cell based therapies might provide a suitable tool for peripheral nerve regeneration, in fact, the ability of different stem cell types to differentiate towards Schwann cells in combination with the use of different scaffolds have been widely investigated in animal models of peripheral nerve injuries in the last decade. Dental pulp is a promising cell source for regenerative medicine, because of the ease of isolation procedures, stem cell proliferation and multipotency abilities, which are due to the embryological origin from neural crest. In this article we review the literature concerning the application of tooth derived stem cell populations combined with different conduits to peripheral nerve injuries animal models, highlighting their regenerative contribution exerted through either glial differentiation and neuroprotective/neurotrophic effects on the host tissue.
PMID: 31571644
DOI: 10.4103/1673-5374.266043