Bioengineered Teeth from Cultured Rat Tooth Bud Cells

TLDR

The recent bioengineering of complex tooth structures from pig tooth bud tissues suggests the potential for the regeneration of mammalian dental tissues. The study compares cultured rat tooth bud cells from 3–7 dpn rats to improve tooth bioengineering methods for tissue‑engineering applications. Cell‑seeded biodegradable scaffolds were implanted into adult rat omenta for 12 weeks and then harvested. Analysis of 12‑week implants revealed that dissociated 4‑dpn rat tooth bud cells seeded for 1 hr onto PGA or PLGA scaffolds produced the most reliable bioengineered tooth tissues, confirming that tooth‑tissue‑engineering methods can generate both pig and rat tooth tissues and that dental epithelial and mesenchymal stem cells can be maintained in vitro for at least 6 days.

Abstract

The recent bioengineering of complex tooth structures from pig tooth bud tissues suggests the potential for the regeneration of mammalian dental tissues. We have improved tooth bioengineering methods by comparing the utility of cultured rat tooth bud cells obtained from three- to seven-day post-natal (dpn) rats for tooth-tissue-engineering applications. Cell-seeded biodegradable scaffolds were grown in the omenta of adult rat hosts for 12 wks, then harvested. Analyses of 12-week implant tissues demonstrated that dissociated 4-dpn rat tooth bud cells seeded for 1 hr onto PGA or PLGA scaffolds generated bioengineered tooth tissues most reliably. We conclude that tooth-tissue-engineering methods can be used to generate both pig and rat tooth tissues. Furthermore, our ability to bioengineer tooth structures from cultured tooth bud cells suggests that dental epithelial and mesenchymal stem cells can be maintained in vitro for at least 6 days.