Classic tissue recombination studies have demonstrated that, in the early developing mouse tooth germ, the odontogenic potential, known as the tooth-inductive capability, resides initially in the dental epithelium and then shifts to the dental mesenchyme. However, it remains unknown if human embryonic dental tissues also acquire such odontogenic potential. Here we present evidence that human embryonic dental tissues indeed possess similar tooth-inductive capability. We found that human dental epithelium from the cap stage but not the bell stage was able to induce tooth formation when confronted with human embryonic lip mesenchyme. In contrast, human dental mesenchyme from the bell stage but not the cap stage could induce mouse embryonic second-arch epithelium as well as human keratinocyte stem cells, to become enamel-secreting ameloblasts. We showed that neither post-natal human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) nor stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) possess odontogenic potential or are odontogenic-competent. Our results demonstrate a conservation of odontogenic potential in mouse and human dental tissues during early tooth development, and will have an implication in the future generation of stem-cell-based bioengineered human replacement teeth.
Keywords: bioengineered tooth; human tooth; keratinocyte stem cells; odontogenic potential.