Effect of melatonin on osteogenic, neurogenic, adipogenic, chondrogenic, myogenic and odontogenic differentiation of human tooth germ stem cells

Stem cell based applications have become a popular and promising approach for therapy of a number of disorders including neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, degenerative muscle diseases and osteoporosis as well as trauma, inflammations, burns and injuries. Human tooth germ stem cells are an adult stem cell source, which have mesenchymal stem cell properties and show high proliferative and differentiation capacity. Melatonin, a hormone produced mainly by pineal gland in humans, are demonstrated to regulate differentiation of human and mouse mesenchymal stem cells into various cell lineages besides its other functions in the body. In this study, the effects of melatonin on osteogenic, neurogenic, adipogenic, chondrogenic, myogenic and odontogenic differentiation of human tooth germ stem cells have been investigated. The results showed that melatonin increases the viability of cells. It significantly increases osteogenic, neurogenic, chondrogenic, myogenic and odontogenic of the cells whereas it decreases adipogenic differentiation capability. These results suggest that melatonin has a great potential to increase differentiation capacity of human tooth germ stem cells and might be used in regenerative therapy applications involving stem cell differentiations besides defining potential treatments for obesity because of its suppressor effects on adipogenesis.