• Masaki Hata, Maiko Omi, Yasuko Kobayashi, Nobuhisa Nakamura, Takahiro Tosaki, Megumi Miyabe, Norinaga Kojima, Katsutoshi Kubo, Shogo Ozawa, Hatsuhiko Maeda, Yoshinobu Tanaka, Tatsuaki Matsubara, and Keiko Naruse.
• Department of Removable Prosthodontics, School of Dentistry, Aichi Gakuin University, Nagoya, Japan. hata@dpc.agu.ac.jp.
• Stem Cell Res Ther. 2015 Sep 7; 6: 162.

IntroductionDental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are mesenchymal stem cells located in dental pulp and are thought to be a potential source for cell therapy since DPSCs can be easily obtained from teeth extracted for orthodontic reasons. Obtained DPSCs can be cryopreserved until necessary and thawed and expanded when needed. The aim of this study is to evaluate the therapeutic potential of DPSC transplantation for diabetic polyneuropathy.MethodsDPSCs isolated from the dental pulp of extracted incisors of Sprague-Dawley rats were partly frozen in a -80 °C freezer for 6 months. Cultured DPSCs were transplanted into the unilateral hindlimb skeletal muscles 8 weeks after streptozotocine injection and the effects of DPSC transplantation were evaluated 4 weeks after the transplantation.ResultsTransplantation of DPSCs significantly improved the impaired sciatic nerve blood flow, sciatic motor/sensory nerve conduction velocity, capillary number to muscle fiber ratio and intra-epidermal nerve fiber density in the transplanted side of diabetic rats. Cryopreservation of DPSCs did not impair their proliferative or differential ability. The transplantation of cryopreserved DPSCs ameliorated sciatic nerve blood flow and sciatic nerve conduction velocity as well as freshly isolated DPSCs.ConclusionsWe demonstrated the effectiveness of DPSC transplantation for diabetic polyneuropathy even when using cryopreserved DPSCs, suggesting that the transplantation of DPSCs could be a promising tool for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy.

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