Gingival-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy regenerated the radiated salivary glands: functional and histological evidence in murine model.

Background: Radiotherapy in head and neck cancer management causes degeneration of the salivary glands (SG). This study was designed to determine the potential of gingival mesenchymal stem cells (GMSCs) as a cell-based therapy to regenerate irradiated parotid SG tissues and restore their function using a murine model.

Methods: Cultured isolated cells from gingival tissues of 4 healthy guinea pigs at passage 3 were characterized as GMSCSs using flow cytometry for surface markers and multilineage differentiation capacity.