Characteristics of Alveolar Bone Marrow Cells from Patients Undergoing Dental Extractions or Dental Implant Therapy

Alveolar bone marrow stromal cells (aBMSCs) play important roles in craniofacial wound healing. To establish an easy, efficient and reliable method to harvest aBMSCs, we compared three different methods: extraction socket aspiration, osteotomy aspiration and bone core digestion. Samples of aBMSC were collected from two groups of subjects. Group 1 (dental extraction): after dental extraction, 22.5-gauge needles were used to collect 0.5-1cc marrow aspirate. Group 2 (dental implant): during implant surgeries, bone core and 0.5-1cc marrow aspirate were obtained from the osteotomy. Samples were cultured in petri dishes and attached cells were expanded. The population doubling time (PDT), surface markers, and osteogenic differentiation potential of these cells were studied. In total 12 subjects were enrolled in the study. The success rates of generating aBMSCs from extraction socket aspiration, osteotomy aspiration and bone core digestion were 42.8% (3/7), 40% (2/5) and 80% (4/5), respectively. Cells from extraction socket aspiration had the fastest proliferation rate among the three sample types, followed by bone core and osteotomy aspiration, as shown in PDTs and DNA fold changes. After isolation and expansion, all the aBMSCs expressed high levels of CD 73, CD90, and CD105, however, the expression of CD146 varied among the cells. Cells derived from bone core had the highest ALP activity after osteogenic induction, followed by cells from osteotomy aspiration, and then extraction aspiration. Taken together, bone core samples obtained during implant surgery is a more reliable source for generating aBMSCs and aBMSCs harvested from different methods may have different characteristics