Zheng Guan, Songtao Shi, and Suttatip Kamolmatyakul

pp. 129 - 134

Abstract

The aims of this study were to compare the proliferation and mineralization ability of CFU-F selected dental pulp cells
derived from primary and permanent teeth. Those cells were isolated by enzyme digestion and analyzed for their colonyforming capacity. The cell proliferation was measured by the MTT assay on day 1, day 7, and day14. Alizarin Red S staining
was used to detect mineralized nodule formation of the cells on day 7, 14, 21, and 28. Proliferation of CFU-F selected pulp
cells from primary teeth was significantly higher than that of CFU-F selected pulp cells from permanent teeth in all periods of
the experiment. Upon cultured cells in mineralization inducing media, the mineralized nodules appeared as early as day 14 in
CFU-F selected pulp cells from primary teeth and MG-63, whereas those of CFU-F selected pulp cells from permanent teeth
can be found at day 21. On day 21 and day 28, the mineralized nodules of the CFU-F selected pulp cells from the primary
teeth group were more than those in the CFU-F selected pulp cells from the permanent teeth group. Mineralized nodule
formation in the CFU-F selected pulp cells from the permanent teeth group appeared later and were less than those of
CFU-F selected pulp cells from primary teeth. However, mineralized nodules in CFU-F selected pulp cells from the permanent
teeth group increased very fast after their appearance. Those results suggest that CFU-F selected pulp cells from primary
teeth had a higher proliferation rate and mineralization rate when compared to CFU-F selected pulp cells from permanent
teeth.