干细胞在牙齿再生研究中的应用

Application of Stem Cells in Research of Tooth Regeneration

干细胞是一类能够自我更新并分化形成多种组织细胞类型的原始细胞。基于其特殊的生物学性质,干细胞可作为器官再生的理想种子细胞。干细胞已成功被诱导为神经、心肌、皮肤、软骨、肝脏、胰岛、造血等不同类型组织细胞,为神经损伤、退行性变、胰岛素依赖性糖尿病、造血功能障碍等多种难治性疾病提供替代疗法。牙齿是人体中唯一的能在成体中再次发育而且结构相对简单的一个器官,因此牙齿再生已成为组织工程研究领域的热点。目前,在模式动物小鼠以及小型猪中已开展许多利用干细胞进行釉质、本质、牙髓以及牙周韧带等牙齿组织再生和整牙再生的研究。本文系统地概括了不同来源的干细胞(胚胎干细胞、成体干细胞和诱导多能干细胞)在牙齿再生研究中的应用。其中,成体干细胞具有来源广泛、便于采集培养以及不导入外源基因等优势,在牙齿再生的基础研究和临床应用中具有更大的价值。

Stem cells are primordial cells that can self-renew to produce more stem cells and can divide and differentiate into diverse specialized cell types.Based on the specific biological properties,stem cells can be selected as ideal seed cells for organ regeneration.The stem cells have been successfully induced to different tissues of nerves,cardiomyocytes,skin,cartilage,liver,pancreatic islets,hematopoietic,which will provide replacement therapy for some refractory diseases,such as nerve damage,degenerative changes,insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus,hematopoietic dysfunction.With the extraordinary nature of re-development in the adult and relatively simple structure,tooth regeneration has become a hot spot in tissue engineering.At present,many studies that stem cells can be orchestrated to engineer dental structures,such as the enamel,dentin,dental pulp,or the periodontium,and reconstruct a whole tooth in mouse or miniature pigs have been carried out.The review systematically recapitulates the application of stem cells with different origin,including embryonic stem cells,adult stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells,in tooth regeneration research.Among them,adult stem cells show significant superiorities of extensive source,easy acquisition and preclude of exogenous genes and possess a greater value in tooth regeneration basic research and clinical applications.