Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Oct 26, 2023; 15(10): 960-978
Published online Oct 26, 2023. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v15.i10.960
Potential of dental pulp stem cells and their products in promoting peripheral nerve regeneration and their future applications
Wen-Bo Xing, Shu-Ting Wu, Xin-Xin Wang, Fen-Yao Li, Ruo-Xuan Wang, Ji-Hui He, Jiao Fu, Yan He
Wen-Bo Xing, Shu-Ting Wu, Xin-Xin Wang, Fen-Yao Li, Ruo-Xuan Wang, Ji-Hui He, Jiao Fu, Yan He, Institute of Regenerative and Translational Medicine, Tianyou Hospital, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China
Wen-Bo Xing, Shu-Ting Wu, Xin-Xin Wang, Fen-Yao Li, Ruo-Xuan Wang, Ji-Hui He, Jiao Fu, Yan He, First Clinical College, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China
Yan He, Department of Stomatology, Tianyou Hospital, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China
Yan He, Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Oral and Maxillofacial Development and Regeneration, Wuhan 430022, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: Xing WB collected the data and wrote the manuscript; Wu ST, Wang XX, Li FY, Wang RX, He JH, and Fu J revised the article; He Y provided constructive comments on the review; and all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Wuhan University of Science and Technology Startup Fund (Chu Tian Scholars Program), No. XZ2020024; Open Laboratory Fund from Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Oral and Maxillofacial Development and Regeneration, No. 2022kqhm005; and Hubei Provincial Health and Health Commission Research Project, No. WJ2023M121.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Yan He, PhD, Chief Physician, Department of Stomatology, Tianyou Hospital, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, No. 947 Heping Avenue, Qingshan District, Wuhan 430000, Hubei Province, China. helen-1101@hotmail.com
Received: July 30, 2023
Peer-review started: July 30, 2023
First decision: September 27, 2023
Revised: October 7, 2023
Accepted: October 23, 2023
Article in press: October 23, 2023
Published online: October 26, 2023
Abstract

Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) seriously affects people’s quality of life. Stem cell therapy is considered a promising new option for the clinical treatment of PNI. Dental stem cells, particularly dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs), are adult pluripotent stem cells derived from the neuroectoderm. DPSCs have significant potential in the field of neural tissue engineering due to their numerous advantages, such as easy isolation, multidifferentiation potential, low immunogenicity, and low transplant rejection rate. DPSCs are extensively used in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, including for the treatment of sciatic nerve injury, facial nerve injury, spinal cord injury, and other neurodegenerative diseases. This article reviews research related to DPSCs and their advantages in treating PNI, aiming to summarize the therapeutic potential of DPSCs for PNI and the underlying mechanisms and providing valuable guidance and a foundation for future research.

Keywords: Dental pulp stem cells, Peripheral nerve injury, Regenerative medicine, Neural regeneration, Schwann cells, Stem cells engineering

Core Tip: This article reviews the potential applications of dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) and their derivatives in the field of nerve regeneration. First, this paper describes the current status of stem cell therapies for peripheral nerve injury (PNI) and discusses the advantages of DPSCs in this field. Then, the status of research on the neuroregenerative ability of DPSCs and their derivatives is reviewed. Finally, the potential of DPSCs in treating PNI and the underlying mechanism are summarized, with an aim to provide valuable guidance and a basis for future research.