Investigation of the appropriate isolation methods of human dental pulp stem cells from third molars for osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation

The aim of this study was to compare different isolation methods to obtain stem cells from adult human third molars pulp and investigation on their potential of osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation.

Dental pulp was isolated by three ways: 1) direct culture of pulp pieces, 2) enzymatic digestion of pulp using collagenase and dispase, and 3) direct culture of pulp pieces and fixing it with lamella. Stem cell surface markers were analyzed by flow cytometry method. Adypogenic and osteogenic differentiation were verified by Oil Red O staining and Alizarin Red S staining, respectively.

The growth of cells cultured after enzymatic digestion was faster than those isolated by other methods and the use of lamella increased the risk of infection and cell damage.

Dental pulp stem cells isolated with enzymatic digestion has faster growth and might be as an available resource both for research and tissue engineering.