An In Vitro Comparative Study of Multisource Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Bone Tissue Engineering

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been considered promising tools for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. However, the optimal cell source for bone regeneration remains controversial. To better identify seed cells for bone tissue engineering, we compared MSCs from seven different tissues, including four from dental origins, dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs), periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs), gingival MSCs (GMSCs), and dental follicle stem cells (DFSCs); two from somatic origins, bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM-MSCs) and adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs); and one from birth-associated perinatal tissue umbilical cord (UCMSCs). We cultured the cells under a standardized culture condition and studied their biological characteristics. According to our results, these cells exhibited similar immunophenotype and had potential for multilineage differentiation. MSCs from dental and perinatal tissues proliferated more rapidly than those from somatic origins. Simultaneously, DPSCs and PDLSCs owned stronger antiapoptotic ability under the microenvironment of oxidative stress combined with serum deprivation. In respect to osteogenic differentiation, the two somatic MSCs, BM-MSCs and ADSCs, demonstrated the strongest ability for osteogenesis compared to PDLSCs and DFSCs, which were just a little bit weaker than the formers. However, GMSCs and UCMSCs were the most pertinacious ones to differentiate to osteoblasts. We also revealed that the canonical intracellular protein kinase-based cascade signaling pathways, including PI3K/AKT, MAPK/ERK, and p38 MAPK, possessed different levels of activation in different MSCs after osteoblast induction. Our conclusions suggest that PDLSCs might be a good potential alternative to BM-MSCs for bone tissue engineering.