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Cai L, Cui Y, Guo D, Chen H, Li J, Zhou X, Xie J. Microenvironmental Stiffness Directs Chondrogenic Lineages of Stem Cells from the Human Apical Papilla via Cooperation between ROCK and Smad3 Signaling. ACS Biomater Sci Eng 2023; 9:4831-4845. [PMID: 36797839 DOI: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.2c01371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
Cell-based cartilage tissue engineering faces a great challenge in the repair process, partly due to the special physical microenvironment. Human stem cell from apical papilla (hSCAP) shows great potential as seed cells because of its versatile differentiation capacity. However, whether hSCAP has potent chondrogenic differentiation ability in the physical microenvironment of chondroid remains unknown. In this study, we fabricated poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrates with different stiffnesses and investigated the chondrogenic differentiation potential of hSCAPs. First, we found that hSCAPs cultured on soft substrates spread more narrowly accompanied by cortical actin organization, a hallmark of differentiated chondrocytes. On the contrary, stiff substrates were favorable for cell spreading and stress fiber formation. More importantly, the increased chondrogenic differentiation of hSCAPs seeded on soft substrates was confirmed by characterizing increased extracellular proteoglycan aggregation through Alcian blue staining and Safranin O staining and enhanced markers toward chondrogenic differentiation including SRY-box transcription factor 9 (Sox9), type II collagen (Col2), and aggrecan in both normal α-minimum essential medium (αMEM) and specific chondrogenic medium (CM) culture conditions. Then, we investigated the mechanosensing/mechanotransduction governing the chondrogenic differentiation of hSCAPs in response to different stiffnesses and found that stiffness-sensitive integrin β1 and focal adhesion kinase (FAK) were essential for mechanical signal perception and were oriented at the start of mechanotransduction induced by matrix stiffness. We next showed that the increased nuclear accumulation of Smad3 signaling and target Sox9 facilitated the chondrogenic differentiation of hSCAPs on the soft substrates and further verified the importance of Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) signaling in regulating chondrogenic differentiation and its driving factors, Smad3 and Sox9. By using SIS3, the specific inhibitor of p-Smad3, and miRNA targeting Rho-associated protein kinase 1 (ROCK-1), we finally confirmed the importance of ROCK/Smad3/Sox9 axis in the chondrogenic differentiation of hSCAPs in response to substrate stiffness. These results help us to increase the understanding of how microenvironmental stiffness directs chondrogenic differentiation from the aspects of mechanosensing, mechanotransduction, and cell fate decision, which will be of great value in the application of hSCAPs in cartilage tissue engineering.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linyi Cai
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Yujia Cui
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Daimo Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Hao Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Jiazhou Li
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Xuedong Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Jing Xie
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
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Liu Q, Gao Y, He J. Stem Cells from the Apical Papilla (SCAPs): Past, Present, Prospects, and Challenges. Biomedicines 2023; 11:2047. [PMID: 37509686 PMCID: PMC10377451 DOI: 10.3390/biomedicines11072047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2023] [Revised: 07/10/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 07/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Dental diseases occurring on young permanent teeth usually lead to the premature arrest of tooth root development. Sustained tooth root elongation is necessary to achieve the goal of long-term preservation of affected teeth. To this end, stem cell-based regenerative endodontic treatment has been regarded as one of the most promising strategies for treating young permanent teeth with pulp and periapical infections. Endogenous stem cells residing in the apical papilla, named stem cells from the apical papilla (SCAPs), have been intensively investigated due to their critical roles in pulp regeneration and root redevelopment. The present review summarizes advances in the field of SCAPs studies and discusses the challenges that need to be further addressed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qi Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
- Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Yuan Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
- Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
| | - Jinzhi He
- State Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases & National Clinical Research Center for Oral Diseases, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
- Department of Cariology and Endodontics, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
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