Periodontal Ligament Stem Cell-mediated Treatment for Periodontitis in Miniature Swine

¹ Salivary Gland Disease Center and the Molecular Laboratory for Gene Therapy, Capital Medical University School, Beijing 100050, China
² Colgate Australian Clinical Dental Research Centre, Dental School, University of Adelaide, South Australia
³ Mesenchymal Stem Cell Group, Division of haematology, Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science/Hanson Institute, Adelaide, South Australia
⁴ The Center for Craniofacial Molecular Biology, University of Southern California School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, CA 90033, USA

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: songlinwang{at}dentist.org.cn.

Correspondence may also be addressed to Songtao Shi at songtaos@usc.edu.

	Abstract

Periodontitis is a periodontal tissue infectious disease and the most common cause for tooth loss in adults. It has been linked to many systemic disorders such as coronary artery disease, stroke, and diabetes. At present, there is no ideal therapeutic approach to cure periodontitis and achieve optimal periodontal tissue regeneration. In this study, we explored the potential of using autologous periodontal ligament stem cells (PDLSCs) to treat periodontal defects in a porcine model of periodontitis. The periodontal lesion was generated in the first molars area of miniature pigs by the surgical removal of bone and subsequent silk ligament suture around the cervical portion of the tooth. Autologous PDLSCs were obtained from extracted teeth of the miniature pigs and then expanded ex vivo to enrich PDLSC numbers. When transplanted into the surgically created periodontal defect areas, PDLSCs were capable of regenerating periodontal tissues, leading to a favorable treatment for periodontitis. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using stem cell–mediated tissue engineering to treat periodontal diseases.