Biological characteristics of cell lines derived from human dental alveolus

Objective To investigate the biological characteristics of cell lines established from healthy and diseased human dental alveoli. Methods We first established primary cell lines from either healthy or diseased or human dental alveolus. Two cell lines, H-258 and H-171, respectively derived from healthy and diseased tissues, were selected for further studies on cell morphology, growth and aging by cell counting, histochemical and immunohistochemical staining. Results 1) Primary cell lines were successfully established from diseased human dental alveoli. After three cycles of freezing and thawing, cells still kept a good growth condition and no morphological alterations were observed. The doubling time was 53.4 hours and mean division index (MDI) was 4‰ . Cells could be maintained after twenty passages without obvious reduction of doubling time and MDI. 2) We could passage only three cell lines among twenty-six primary cell lines derived from healthy human dental alveoli. Cells are shown as long shuttles as compared to short shuttles of cells derived from healthy alveoli. After two cycles freezing and thawing, cells were still alive but with decreased growth speed. Cell doubling time was 85.9 hours and mean division index (MDI) was 3‰. 3) Both cell lines (H-171 and H-258) shared the characteristics with os-teoblast as they showed an attached growth type and had positive staining with AKP, PAS and BMP2 etc. Conclusions Primary cell lines established from diseased human dental alveoli showed greater growth potential than that from healthy dental alveoli. All cell lines shared characteristics with osteoblast. Therefore cell lines we developed may have clinical applications on the treatment of diseased dental alveoli.