Tooth-derived mesenchymal cells as a cell replacement source in the treatment of neurological

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The objective of this project is to isolate and to derive neural crest like cell fractions from dental mesenchymal tissues that will be capable of producing dopaminergic neurons for use in cell therapy treatments of Parkinson's disease. As results, when cultured human periodontal ligament derived cells (PDLCs) were exposed to transient hypoxic conditions in the floating culture, the stem cell and neural crest related-genes were up regulated markedly in the surviving cells, and these cells showed the highest plasticity. In particular, floating culture condition was effective to induce the neural cells, such as dopaminergic cells, from PDLCs rather than hypoxic condition. However, these surviving cells in floating culture maintained some typical phenotypes of periodontal ligament cells. We are currently investigating whether PDLCs exposed to these conditions can differentiate into dopamine producing neuralcells in vivo.