Transplantation of human pulpal and gingival fibroblasts attached to synthetic scaffolds

Autologous tissue grafting for the restoration of oral tissues is limited b y several factors, including the availability of sufficient donor tissue. O ne solution to this problem may be to develop substitute tissue grafts by a ttaching disaggregated autologous cells propagated in vitro to scaffolds co mposed of natural or synthetic polymers. We have earlier demonstrated that human dental pulp and gingival fibroblasts (HPF, HGF) adhere to non-woven p olyglycolic acid (PGA) scaffolds, proliferate and produce extracellular mat rix in vitro. We now report that such HPF and HGF adhered to PGA scaffolds survive when implanted into subcutaneous sites in immune-compromised mice. The transplanted cells synthesize and secrete type I collagen, cellular fib ronectin and may express genes implicated in transducing bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signals. Messenger RNA for BMP-2, -4, -7 (OP-l), the BMP typ e I receptors Act RI, BMPR-1A and 1B, the type II receptor BMPR-II, and typ e I collagen were detected by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reacti on (RT-PCR). These data revealed that three adult human dental pulp and gin gival cell populations, each from individual donors, attached to PGA scaffo lds and cultured for 24 h in vitro, survive implantation and express genes indicative of a capacity to produce extracellular matrix. The implanted cel ls may also express genes associated with responsiveness to BMP-mediated ti ssue inductive signals.