SSEA-4 is a marker of human deciduous periodontal ligament stem cells

Although human deciduous teeth are an ideal source of adult stem cells,no method for identifying deciduous periodontal ligament (d-pdl) stem cells has so far been developed. in the present study,we investigated whether stage-specific embryonic antigen (ssea)-4 is a marker that could be used to isolate d-pdl stem cells. the isolated d-pdl cells met the minimum criteria for mesenchymal stem cells (mscs): they showed plastic adherence,specific-surface antigen expression,and multipotent differentiation potential. ssea-4+ d-pdl cells were detected in vitro and in vivo. a flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that 22.7% of the d-pdl cells were positive for ssea-4. ssea-4+ clonal d-pdl cells displayed multilineage differentiation potential: they were able to differentiate into adipocytes,osteoblasts,and chondrocytes in vitro. a clonal assay demonstrated that 61.5% of the ssea-4+ d-pdl cells had adipogenic,osteogenic,and chondrogenic potential. our present study demonstrated that ssea-4+ d-pdl cells are a subset of multipotent stem cells. hence,ssea-4 is a specific marker that can be used to identify d-pdl stem cells. © 2012 international & american associations for dental research.