Dental Pulp Stem Cell Heterogeneity: Finding Superior Quality “Needles” in a Dental Pulpal “Haystack” for Regenerative Medicine-Based Applications

Figure 1

Summary of the events involved in hDPSC formation from migrating neural crest-derived cells during embryonic tooth development. (i) During development, neural crest-derived cells delaminate from the periphery of the neural tube and migrate to the oral region. (ii) Neural crest-derived cells undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition, differentiating into neural crest stem cells and (iii) subsequently into several other cell types and tissues within the craniofacial region. (iv–v) These include the various cell types which comprise the dentine-pulp complex, including hDPSCs.