Comparison of gingival‐derived and bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells for osteogenesis

Background Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are capable of self-renewal and differentiation into multiple cell lineages. Presently, bone marrow is considered as a prime source of MSCs, however, there are some drawbacks and limitations in use of these MSCs for cell therapy. Gingival tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs) were recently identified as having multipotential differentiation in vitro and in vivo, and they represent new postnatal stem cell types for regenerative medicine. Aim/Hypothesis This study aimed to compare the osteogenic differentiation potential of GMSCs and bone marrow MSCs (BMSCs). Material and Methods MSCs derived from gingival and bone marrow were isolated and cultured form mice. GMSCs were characterized by osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic differentiation, and flow cytometry. Compared with BMSCs, the proliferation capacity was judged by CCK-8 proliferation Assay. Osteogenic differentiation was assessed by ALP staining, ALP assay and Alizarin red staining. Quantitative RT-PCR was performed for ALP, Osteocalcin (OCN), Osterix (OSX) and Runx2. Results GMSCs showed spindle-shaped, fibroblast-like morphology, adherence to plastic and multilineage differentiation (osteogenic, adipogenic, chondrogenic) potency. GMSCs expressed CD90 and CD105, but did not express CD45 and CD34 in flow cytometry. GMSCs showed higher proliferative capacity than BMSCs. After osteogenic induction, GMSCs showed more ALP stainings at 7th day and ALP activity was significantly higher in gingival group compared to bone marrow group. Both of GMSCs and BMSCs formed mineralized nodules as stained with Alizarin Red staining. However, GMSCs seemed to generate the higher level of mineralization compared to BMSCs. Quantitative RT-PCR revealed that the expression of ALP, OCN, OSX and Runx2 was significantly increased in the GMSCs compared to BMSCs. Conclusions and Clinical Implications In conclusion, GMSCs were easy to isolate, and proliferated faster than BMSCs without any growth factor. GMSCs displayed more osteogenesis results than BMSCs. Thus, GMSCs are promising sources for tissue engineering and it could be recommended that GMSCs can be used as a good choice when bone tissue reconstruction is needed. Further study is needed to check the osteogenic potential of GMSCs in vivo.