Oral and Craniofacial Stem Cells: An Untapped Source for Neural Tissue Regeneration

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Abstract
Nerve tissue regeneration continues to represent an intractable obstacle to realizing the promise of tissue engineering. While neurobiology works to shed light on the mechanisms governing neuronal growth and repair, considerable technical gaps remain that hinder progress. Chief among these is the absence of an appropriate culture environment to faithfully reproduce the neuronal niche ex vivo. We propose that the various multipotent cells found in the oral cavity may represent an important, yet underutilized resource for preparing such neurogenic microenvironments. Like those of nerve tissue, these cell populations are of ectodermal origin and have clinically demonstrated neurogenic potential. While there is a lack of consensus on whether putative types of oral and craniofacial stem cells constitute distinct populations, their contribution to neural tissue engineering may be two-fold: as a cellular feedstock for neoneurogenesis and for the production of specialized in vitro environments for neurogenic differentiation, phenotype maintenance, and use in therapeutic applications.

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