Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells Grown in Neurogenic Media Differentiate into Endothelial Cells and Promote Neovasculogenesis in the Mouse Brain

Abstract

SUMMARYDental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSCs) have a demonstrated capacity to acquire neuronal-like phenotypes, suggesting their use in brain cell therapies. In the present work, we wanted to address the phenotypic fate of adult DPSCs cultured in Neurocult media (Stem Cell Technologies), a cell culture medium without serum routinely used for the expansion of adult neural stem cells (NSCs). Our results showed for the first time, that non-genetically modified adult DPSCs cultured with Neurocult generated neurosphere-like dentospheres expressing the NSC markers Nestin and GFAP, but also the vascular endothelial cell marker CD31. One month post-intracranial graft into athymic nude mice, human CD31+ or Nestin+ DPSC-derived cells were found tightly associated with brain blood vessels increasing their laminin staining. These results suggest that DPSCs integrated and contributed to an increased generation of neovasculature within brain tissue and that Neurocult medium constituted a fast and efficient way to obtain endothelial cells from human DPSCs.