Dental pulp cell bank as a possible future source of individual hepatocytes

Figure 1 Schematic representation of processes that utilize dental pulp cell bank for future use as hepatocytes. They may be used as cellular sources for cytotherapies to treat refractory liver diseases or as a component of bioartificial liver aiming at tailor-made applications such as future drug-toxicity screening. A hepatocyte-like cell induced from dental pulp-derived-mesenchymal stem cells in our laboratory is shown (unpublished data).