Clonal Heterogeneity in the Neuronal and Glial Differentiation of Dental Pulp Stem/Progenitor Cells

Cellular heterogeneity presents an important challenge to the development of cell-based therapies where there is a fundamental requirement for predictable and reproducible outcomes. Transplanted Dental Pulp Stem/Progenitor Cells (DPSCs) have demonstrated early promise in experimental models of spina...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fraser I. Young, Vsevolod Telezhkin, Sarah J. Youde, Martin S. Langley, Maria Stack, Paul J. Kemp, Rachel J. Waddington, Alastair J. Sloan, Bing Song
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2016-01-01
Series:Stem Cells International
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/1290561
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Summary:Cellular heterogeneity presents an important challenge to the development of cell-based therapies where there is a fundamental requirement for predictable and reproducible outcomes. Transplanted Dental Pulp Stem/Progenitor Cells (DPSCs) have demonstrated early promise in experimental models of spinal cord injury and stroke, despite limited evidence of neuronal and glial-like differentiation after transplantation. Here, we report, for the first time, on the ability of single cell-derived clonal cultures of murine DPSCs to differentiate in vitro into immature neuronal-like and oligodendrocyte-like cells. Importantly, only DPSC clones with high nestin mRNA expression levels were found to successfully differentiate into Map2 and NF-positive neuronal-like cells. Neuronally differentiated DPSCs possessed a membrane capacitance comparable with primary cultured striatal neurons and small inward voltage-activated K+ but not outward Na+ currents were recorded suggesting a functionally immature phenotype. Similarly, only high nestin-expressing clones demonstrated the ability to adopt Olig1, Olig2, and MBP-positive immature oligodendrocyte-like phenotype. Together, these results demonstrate that appropriate markers may be used to provide an early indication of the suitability of a cell population for purposes where differentiation into a specific lineage may be beneficial and highlight that further understanding of heterogeneity within mixed cellular populations is required.
ISSN:1687-966X
1687-9678