A 3D Ex Vivo Mandible Slice System for Longitudinal Culturing of Transplanted Dental Pulp Progenitor Cells

作者:Colombo John S; Howard Jones Rachel A*; Young Fraser I; Waddington Rachel J; Errington Rachel J; Sloan Alastair J
来源:Cytometry, Part A, 2015, 87A(10): 921-928.
DOI:10.1002/cyto.a.22680

摘要

Harnessing mesenchymal stem cells for tissue repair underpins regenerative medicine. However, how the 3D tissue matrix maintains such cells in a quiescent state whilst at the same time primed to respond to tissue damage remains relatively unknown. Developing more physiologically relevant 3D models would allow us to better understand the matrix drivers and influence on cell-lineage differentiation in situ. In this study, we have developed an ex vivo organotypic rat mandible slice model; a technically defined platform for the culture and characterization of dental pulp progenitor cells expressing GFP driven by the beta-actin promoter (cGFP DPPCs). Using confocal microscopy we have characterized how the native environment influences the progenitor cells transplanted into the dental pulp. Injected cGFP-DPPCs were highly viable and furthermore differentially proliferated in unique regions of the mandible slice; in the dentine region, cGFP-DPPCs showed a columnar morphology indicative of expansion and lineage differentiation. Hence, we demonstrated the systematic capacity for establishing a dental pulp cell-micro-community, phenotypically modified in the tooth (the "biology"); and at the same time addressed technical challenges enabling the mandible slice to be accessible on platforms for high-content imaging (the biology in a "multiplex" format). (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

  • 出版日期2015-10