Effect of Hypoxia on Stemness and Differentiation of Dental Pulp Derived Stem Cells

Abstract

Stem Cells are characterized by their properties of self renewal and multipotency. These stem cells are localized inside our body at specialized niches, which are known to have low oxygen tension. Dental pulp tissue found in the middle of the tooth is one such niche which experiences hypoxic conditions due to its anatomical location. However under in-vitro conditions, stem cells are cultured under normoxia condition (21% O 2 concentration). It has been known since decades that low oxygen tension in tissue cultures has positive effect on the cell growth. In this study, we tested this hypothesis on in vitro isolated, expanded, Dental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSCs) grown under low oxygen. The comparative evaluation was done between DPSCs grown in normoxia (21% O 2) and Hypoxia (3% O 2) on the basis of proliferation, aging, maintenance of stemness and differentiation potential. Our study indicates that DPSCs when grown in hypoxia exhibited better renewal capacity, lesser population time and hence decreased differentiation. Thus, this study emphasizes that hypoxic culture conditions is better in vitro culture condition for expansion of DPSCs in large scale and maintenance of their stemness for therapeutic purpose.