Tridimensional response of human dental follicular stem cells onto a synthetic hydroxyapatite scaffold

Abstract

In the last decade, extracorporeal bone tissue engineering has found more clinical applications due to the progress and new achievements in the isolation and characterization of stem cells from different sources, as well as, in controlling proliferation and differentiation in vitro. The aim of this study is to evaluate the in vitro behaviour, morphological structure and extracellular matrix synthesis of human dental follicle stem cells (hDFSCs) isolated from human dental bud, when seeded onto a synthetic hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffold (ENGIpore c©). Populations of CD29+, CD90+, CD146+ and CD166+ were sorted by FAC sorter (FACS) analysis and were cultured in osteogenic medium and then, onto the scaffold. These cells were analyzed by optical and electronic microscopy, at week 1 and 6, before and after the differentiation. Light microscopy showed an intense attachment and colonization of the HA scaffold by polygonal-shaped cells. Scanning electron microscopy after six weeks revealed a tri-dimensional organization of the cells and the presence of dense material around the cell clusters. hDFSCs showed participation in protein biosynthesis and demonstrated high proliferation on the synthetic HA scaffold.