Abstract
The goal of this study was to establish mini-swine as a large animal model for stem cell-based pulp regeneration studies. Swine dental pulp stem cells (sDPSCs) were isolated from mini-swine and characterized in vitro. For in vivo studies, we first employed both ectopic and semi-orthotopic study models using severe combined immunodeficiency mice. One is hydroxyapatite-tricalcium phosphate (HA/TCP) model for pulp-dentin complex formation, and the other is tooth fragment model for complete pulp regeneration with new dentin depositing along the canal walls. We found that sDPSCs are similar to their human counterparts exhibiting mesenchymal stem cell characteristics with ability to form colony forming unit-fibroblastic and odontogenic differentiation potential. sDPSCs formed pulp-dentin complex in the HA/TCP model and showed pulp regeneration capacity in the tooth fragment model. We then tested orthotopic pulp regeneration on mini-swine including the use of multi-rooted teeth. Using autologous sDPSCs carried by hydrogel and transplanted into the mini-swine root canal space, we observed regeneration of vascularized pulp-like tissue with a layer of newly deposited dentin-like (rD) tissue or osteodentin along the canal walls. In some cases, dentin bridge-like structure was observed. Immunohistochemical analysis detected the expression of nestin, dentin sialophosphoprotein, dentin matrix protein 1, and bone sialoprotein in odontoblast-like cells lining against the produced rD. We also tested the use of allogeneic sDPSCs for the same procedures. Similar findings were observed in allogeneic transplantation. This study is the first to show an establishment of mini-swine as a suitable large animal model utilizing multi-rooted teeth for further cell-based pulp regeneration studies.