The mineralizing capacity of primary cultures of human dental pulp is induced by differentiation conditioning factors

ACQUIER, A B; DE COUTO PITA, A K; MENDEZ, C F; MERHAR, V; PAZ, C

San Nicolás

Congreso; 50º Reunión Anual de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Odontológica; 2017

We have previously reported the establishment of primary cultures of human dental pulp cells (HDPCs) that exhibit morphology changes in the presence of osteoblastic differentiation factors, a process that involves activation of the extracellular signal kinase 1/2 (ERK).Aim: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the addition of differentiation conditioning factors modifies the cell proliferation rate and to determine the mineralizing capacity of the cell culture.Materials and Methods: Cultures were established by cell explant from mechanically disaggregated pulp derived from retained molars (n=2) extracted from adult donors due to eruption failures.The tissue was incubated at 37 °C and 5% CO2 in Eagle´s modified Dulbecco´s medium (DMEM) with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and L-glutamine or in DMEM supplemented with 300 μM ascorbic acid, 10 mM β glycerophosphate, 15% FBS and 100 µM dexamethasone as differentiation factors (DMEM-OD). Cell proliferation was analyzed colorimetrically after crystal violet staining, and the mineralizing capacity of the cells was determined by alizarine red staining.Results: In culture, cells proliferated in DMEM medium up to day 7 with a doubling time of 24 hrs, whereas incubation in DMEM-OD medium resulted in a significant reduction in cell proliferation (p