Objective: To investigate the mechanism underlying the mechanism of odontogenic differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) induced by periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs), and offer an experimental evidence for the combination of the two types of stem cells to make regenerative periodontal complex.
Methods: By means of Transwell(R); chamber, PDLSCs and BMMSCs from miniature pigs were co-cultured indirectly at different mixing ratios of PDLSCs to BMMSCs, 10:1 (group A), 1:1 (group B), 1:10 (group C). On the other hand, PDLSCs and BMMSCs were respectively cultured alone as positive and negative control group. Fourteen days later, the expressions of scleraxis, matrix extracellular phosphoglycoprotein (MEPE), osteocalcin (OCN), osterix (OSX) were detected by immunofluorescence and real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) to determine the optimal ratio of PDLSCs to BMMSCs for odontogenic differentiation.
Results: Immunofluorescence and qRT-PCR showed that the expression levels of sceleraxi, OCN and OSX protein and relative mRNA had no statistically significant difference in the A, B, C groups (P>0.05), but as for MEPE, its relative mRNA expression level in group A was significantly higher than that in group B or C (P<0.01).
Conclusion: In the indirect co-culture of PDLSCs and BMMSCs, BMMSCs can obtain PDLSCs' biological characteristics to different extent, and meanwhile, a small number of PDLSCs can also induce the odontogenic differentiation of BMMSCs.