In vitro Assay of Human Gingival Scaffold in Differentiation of Rat’s Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Keratinocystes

OBJECTIVE(S): Tissue engineering is an attractive science because it promises new therapeutic strategies for repairing organs that have lost functions due to damage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate induction effect of human gingival scaffold in tissue engineering for skin regeneration. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Tissue samples were obtained from crown-lengthening procedures and wisdom teeth removal. The samples were decellularized and used as a scaffold for loading of rat BM-MSCs. The human gingival scaffolds loaded by bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were derived from Wistar rat. Finally, it was evaluated via electron micrographs, as well as immunohistochemical techniques at day 7, 14, and 28 after initial seeding. RESULTS: The histologic sections of human gingival scaffold –loaded rat BM-MSCs demonstrated formation of epithelial like layers at days 7, 14 and 28 after initial seeding. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) of the scaffolds indicated formed desmosomal adhesions, which revealed a degree of differentiation toward keratinocytes. The results of immunohistochemical staining were strongly positive for multi cytokeratin (CK) 14 days after initial seeding in epithelial differentiation. Rat BM-MSCs which loaded on human gingival scaffold is capable of differentiating toward keratinocytes. CONCLUSION: Gingival tissues were presented as a natural scaffold for attachment and differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells towards keratinocytes, and might be used as suitable scaffold for reconstruction of the skin.