The Effect of Vitamin K2 on Osteogenic Differentiation of Dental Pulp Stem Cells: An In Vitro Study

Introduction: dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) have been shown to have great capacity to differentiation toward the osteoblast lineage and they can be considered as a great cell source for bone tissue engineering. The vitamin K family, especially vitamin K2 (MK-4), have been shown to have an osteoprotective role.  In this study, we have investigated the effect of various concentrations of MK-4 on differentiation of DPSCs into osteoblast. Materials and Methods: DPSCs were isolated and characterized to expression the mesenchymal markers. These cells were treated with osteogenic medium with and without of various concentrations of MK-4 for 14 days. Osteogenic capability and extracellular calcium deposition were assessed by ALP assay and alizarin red staining, respectively, at zero, 7, 14 days after induction.Result: the additional of MK-4 at concentration of 10 µM with osteogenic medium had a significant effect on differentiation DPSCs into osteoblast (P<0.05) at 14 day, as it confirmed by both ALP activity assay and alizarin red staining. Conclusion: MK-4 can promote differentiation of DPSCs into osteoblast in vitro so have a potential to be considered in improvement of cell-based bone tissue engineering therapies.

Impact of Tissue Harvesting Sites on the Cellular Behaviors of Adipose-Derived Stem Cells: Implication for Bone Tissue Engineering

The advantages of adipose-derived stem cells (AdSCs) over bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs), such as being available as a medical waste and less discomfort during harvest, have made them a good alternative instead of BMSCs in tissue engineering. AdSCs from buccal fat pad (BFP), as an easily harvestable and accessible source, have gained interest to be used for bone regeneration in the maxillofacial region. Due to scarcity of data regarding comparative analysis of isolated AdSCs from different parts of the body, we aimed to quantitatively compare the proliferation and osteogenic capabilities of AdSCs from different harvesting sites. In this study, AdSCs were isolated from BFP (BFPdSCs), abdomen (abdomen-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AbdSCs)), and hip (hip-derived mesenchymal stem cells (HdSCs)) from one individual and were compared for surface marker expression, morphology, growth rate, and osteogenic differentiation capability. Among them, BFPdSCs demonstrated the highest proliferation rate with the shortest doubling time and also expressed vascular endothelial markers including CD34 and CD146. Moreover, the expression of osteogenic markers were significantly higher in BFPdSCs. The results of this study suggested that BFPdSCs as an encouraging source of mesenchymal stem cells are to be used for bone tissue engineering