Gene expression profile of dental pulp cells during differentiation into an adipocyte lineage

Gene regulation during in vitro differentiation into adipocytes was examined in rat dental pulp-derived cells. Insulin, 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, and dexamethasone were added to induce adipogenesis. Cells containing lipid droplets were observed after induction as in 3T3 L1 cells. Rat dental pulp-derived cells showed their potential to differentiate into adipocytes in vitro. In both types of cells, the pluripotent markers Oct-3/4 and Sox2 were downregulated during differentiation, whereas the expression of Nanog was not significantly changed during differentiation. Interestingly, in the dental pulp-derived cells, the level of Oct-3/4 was transiently induced at 1 week after induction and then significantly decreased during differentiation. Based on the expression profiles determined using GeneChip Arrays, 3418 probes across 10 clusters showed a difference in expression at 1, 2, and 3 weeks after induction versus before induction. Notably, genes in the PPAR signaling pathway including Pparγ, Fabp4, and the C/EBP family were upregulated by more than 3-fold. Upregulation of the PPAR pathways seems to be a critical signal transduction pathway in this differentiation system. These findings indicate that dental pulp-derived cells are a potential source of adipogenic cells, and their gene expression profile could be useful in future regenerative medicine applications.