Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Dentistry, Binzhou Medical College, Binzhou, Shandong Province, China.
Department of Occupation and Environment, Konkuk Postgraduate Medical School, Choong-Ju, Korea.
Neural Regen Res. 2013 Oct 25;8(30):2827-37. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1673-5374.2013.30.005.
Human periodontal ligament stem cells are easily accessible and can differentiate into Schwann cells. We hypothesized that human periodontal ligament stem cells can be used as an alternative source for the autologous Schwann cells in promoting the regeneration of injured peripheral nerve. To validate this hypothesis, human periodontal ligament stem cells (1 × 10(6)) were injected into the crush-injured left mental nerve in rats. Simultaneously, autologous Schwann cells (1 × 10(6)) and PBS were also injected as controls. Real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction showed that at 5 days after injection, mRNA expression of low affinity nerve growth factor receptor was significantaly increased in the left trigeminal ganglion of rats with mental nerve injury. Sensory tests, histomorphometric evaluation and retrograde labeling demonstrated that at 2 and 4 weeks after injection, sensory function was significantly improved, the numbers of retrograde labeled sensory neurons and myelinated axons were significantly increased, and human periodontal ligament stem cells and autologous Schwann cells exhibited similar therapeutic effects. These findings suggest that transplantation of human periodontal ligament stem cells show a potential value in repair of mental nerve injury.
人牙周韧带干细胞易于获取，并可分化为许旺细胞。我们假设人牙周韧带干细胞可作为自体许旺细胞的替代来源，用于促进损伤外周神经的再生。为验证这一假设，将 1×10(6)个人牙周韧带干细胞注射到大鼠左侧下颌神经挤压损伤部位。同时，将自体许旺细胞（1×10(6)）和 PBS 作为对照进行注射。实时逆转录聚合酶链反应显示，在神经损伤后 5 天，左侧三叉神经节中低亲和力神经生长因子受体的 mRNA 表达显著增加。感觉测试、组织形态计量评估和逆行标记显示，在注射后 2 周和 4 周时，感觉功能显著改善，逆行标记的感觉神经元和有髓轴突的数量显著增加，人牙周韧带干细胞和自体许旺细胞表现出相似的治疗效果。这些发现表明，人牙周韧带干细胞的移植在修复下颌神经损伤方面具有潜在价值。
