Carious deciduous teeth are a potential source for dental pulp stem cells.

Objective: The objectives of this study are to isolate, cultivate, and characterize stem cells from the pulp of carious deciduous teeth (SCCD) and compare them to those retrieved from sound deciduous teeth (SHED--stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth).

Material And Methods: Cells were obtained of dental pulp collected from sound (n = 10) and carious (n = 10) deciduous human teeth. Rate of isolation, proliferation assay (0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 days), STRO-1, mesenchymal (CD29, CD73, and CD90) and hematopoietic surface marker expression (CD14, CD34, CD45, HLA-DR), and differentiation capacity were evaluated.

Results: Isolation success rates were 70 and 80 % from the carious and sound groups, respectively. SCCD and SHED presented similar proliferation rate. There were no statistical differences between the groups for the tested surface markers. The cells from sound and carious deciduous teeth were positive for CD29, CD73, and CD90 and negative for CD14, CD34, CD45, and HLA-DR and were capable of differentiating into osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic lineages.

Conclusion: SCCD demonstrated a similar pattern of proliferation, immunophenotypical characteristics, and differentiation ability as those obtained from sound deciduous teeth. These SCCD represent a feasible source of stem cells.

Clinical Relevance: Decayed deciduous teeth have been usually discarded once the pulp tissue could be damaged and the activity of stem cells compromised. These findings show that stem cells from carious deciduous teeth can be applicable source for cell-based therapies in tissue regeneration.