Discrimination of Dental Pulp Stem Cell Regenerative Heterogeneity by Single-Cell Raman Spectroscopy.

This study is the first to investigate and confirm the effectiveness of single-cell Raman spectroscopy (SCRM), in its ability to discriminate between dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) with contrasting proliferative and differentiation capabilities. The findings show that SCRM can rapidly and noninvasively distinguish and identify DPSC subpopulations with superior proliferative and multipotency properties, versus lesser quality DPSCs, thereby overcoming the significant heterogeneity issues surrounding DPSC expansion and differentiation capabilities. Such findings support further SCRM assessment for the selective screening/isolation of superior quality DPSCs from whole dental pulp tissues, for more effective evaluation and therapy development.