Basic research on development of new treatment of alveolar bone regeneration

牙髓细胞具有多能性，被认为是一种很有前途的硬组织再生工具。本研究的目的是建立一种使用牙髓细胞再生硬组织的简单方法。为此，我们比较了牙髓细胞和成骨细胞的特性，并探索了钙化的机制。小鼠牙髓细胞即使在没有外源性rhBMP-2的情况下也表现出很强的碱性磷酸酶和细胞外基质钙化活性。基因芯片分析表明，尽管牙髓细胞表达比成骨细胞更高水平的BMPs、膜联蛋白A8(钙通道)和溶质载体蛋白20a2(PI转运体)，但牙髓细胞的总体基因表达与成骨细胞相似。移植到免疫缺陷小鼠体内的牙髓细胞具有体内骨再生活性。此外，人牙髓细胞还表现出较强的碱性磷酸酶和细胞外基质钙化活性。

Dental pulp cells are considered to be a promising tool for the regeneration of hard tissues, due to their multipotency. The goal of the present study is to establish a simple method of regenerating hard tissue using dental pulp cells. Toward this end, we characterized dental pulp cells in comparison with osteoblasts and explored the mechanism of calcification. Mouse dental pulp cells exhibited strong alkaline phosphatase and extracellular matrix calcification activity even in the absence of exogenous rhBMP-2.A Genechip analysis showed the overall gene expression in dental pulp cells to be similar to that in osteoblasts, though dental pulp cells expressed higher levels of BMPs, annexin A8(a Ca channel), and solute carrier protein 20a2(Slc20a2)(a Pi transporter) than osteoblasts. The transplanted dental pulp cells into immunodeficiency mice exert bone regenerative activity in vivo. In addition, human dental pulp cells also exhibited strong alkaline phosphatase and extracellular matrix calcification activity.