Bone regeneration efficacy of dental pulp stem cell source in rat calvarial critical size defect model

Stem cell therapy approaches give hope in every field of medicine. Maxillofacial surgery is the one of these fields. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dental stem cells on bone regeneration and discuss the superiorities with regard to traditional techniques. 15 Wistar albino rats are divided into 3 groups. Bilateral 4 mm diameter trephine bur was used to drill a standardized, round, segmental defect near the sagittal suture. First group was the control (n=10). In the second group, hidroxy-apatite-tri-calcium-phosphate (HA-TCP) was implanted into each defect (n=10). In the last group, human dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) mixed with HA-TCP paste was implanted into each defect (n=10). The animals were sacrificed 8 weeks after surgery and samples are sent to laboratory for micro-CT and histomorphometry analysis. 30 samples were evaluated statistically after analysis. The results showed that the calcification rate and bone mineral density (BMD) values in group 3 were apparently higher than the other two groups. Radiographically, group 2 can increase bone regeneration more than group 1. Interestingly, there was no significant difference between group 1 and 2 in histological analysis. Density of the graft material was held to account for this result. According to the results, dental pulp stem cells have the potential to provide regeneration and that approaches are promising for bone tissue engineering. Keywords: Dental pulp stem cells, tissue engineering, bone regeneration, bone defect model, hydroxyapatite-tri-calcium-phosphate