The
potency and quality of
adult stem cells in our body is reversely proportional to our age. When
stem cells were discovered in
deciduous teeth, it has drawn much
attention to the dental and medical fields. Because these
cells are normally from
children shedding
teeth around ages 6-12, they are relatively more immature
stem cells. The isolated
stem cells from the pulp of
deciduous teeth were named SHED (
stem cells from exfoliated
deciduous teeth) [1]. As other dental
stem cells, SHED are a type of typical mesenchymal stromal/
stem cells (MSCs) expressing CD146, CD105, CD73, CD29 and CD44; as well as expressing embryonic
stem (ES)
cell markers OCT4, NANOG,
stage-specific embryonic antigens (SSEA-3, SSEA-4) and
tumor recognition
antigens (TRA-1-60 and TRA-1-81) [2].