A hydrogel scaffold that maintains viability and supports differentiation of dental pulp stem cells

ORCiD

Dr. Benjamin D. Zeitlin: 0000-0003-0110-0188

Department

Biomedical Sciences

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Dental Materials

ISSN

0109-5641

Volume

29

Issue

1

DOI

10.1016/j.dental.2012.08.002

First Page

97

Last Page

102

Publication Date

Winter 1-1-2013

Abstract

Objectives: The clinical translation of stem cell-based Regenerative Endodontics demands further development of suitable injectable scaffolds. Puramatrix™ is a defined, self-assembling peptide hydrogel which instantaneously polymerizes under normal physiological conditions. Here, we assessed the compatibility of Puramatrix™ with dental pulp stem cell (DPSC) growth and differentiation. Methods: DPSC cells were grown in 0.05–0.25% Puramatrix™. Cell viability was measured colorimetrically using the WST-1 assay. Cell morphology was observed in 3D modeling using confocal microscopy. In addition, we used the human tooth slice model with Puramatrix™ to verify DPSC differentiation into odontoblast-like cells, as measured by expression of DSPP and DMP-1. Results: DPSC survived and proliferated in Puramatrix™ for at least three weeks in culture. Confocal microscopy revealed that cells seeded in Puramatrix™ presented morphological features of healthy cells, and some cells exhibited cytoplasmic elongations. Notably, after 21 days in tooth slices containing Puramatrix™, DPSC cells expressed DMP-1 and DSPP, putative markers of odontoblastic differentiation.

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