Expression of Odontogenic Genes in Human Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells

objective: tooth loss is a common problem and since current tooth replacement methodscannot counter balance with biological tooth structures, regenerating natural tooth structureshas become an ideal goal. a challenging problem in tooth regeneration is to find a properclinically feasible cell to seed.this study was designed to investigate the odontogenic potentialof human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (hbmscs) for seeding in toothregeneration.materials and methods: in this experimental study, three pregnant sprague dawley (sd)rats were used at the eleventh embryonic day and rat fetuses were removed surgicallyusing semilunar flap under general anesthesia. the primary mandible was cut using astereomicroscope. the epithelial and mesenchymal components were separated and thedissected oral epithelium was cultured for 3 days. we used flow cytometry analysis to confirmpresenceofmesenchymalstemcellsandnothematopoieticcellsandtodemonstratethepresence of oral epithelium. bonemarrow mesenchymal stemcells (bmscs) and culturedoral epitheliumwere then co-cultured for 14 days. bmscs cultured alone were usedascontrols. expression of two odontogenic genespax9and dmp1was assessed usingquantitativereverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr).results: expression of two odontogenic genes, pax9 and dmp1, were detected in bmscsco-cultured with oral epithelium but not in the control group.conclusion: expression of pax9 and dmp1 by human bmscs in the proximity of odontogenicepithelium indicates odontogenic potential of these cells.