Adipose-derived stem cells combined with beta-tricalcium phosphate: A novel possible strategy for periodontal defects regeneration

Regeneration of destroyed periodontal tissue is a complicated problem in periodontal therapy. Conventional strategies such as surgical techniques, occlusive barrier membranes, and bone grafts have disadvantages that limit their application. Tissue engineering is a novel approach to regenerate periodontal tissue overcoming limitations of current strategies. In recent studies, researchers reported the potential of adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) to use in periodontal tissue regeneration. Unfortunately, in vivo studies indicated that small amount of alveolar bone formed using ADSCs implantation in the periodontal defects, which would be overcome by inducing osteogenic differentiation of ADSCs using osteoinductive biomaterials combined with ADSCs. Beta-tricalcium phosphate (beta-TCP) is an osteoinductive material which reported to induce osteogenic differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells. Based on the performed studies, we hypothesize that ADSCs from Wistar rat are isolated, induced by appropriate signaling molecules, seeded by beta-TCP, and then the complex was implanted into the periodontal defects in the same Wistar rat to observe the regeneration of periodontal tissue in vivo. This study will explore the possibility and application of ADSCs/beta-TCP complex for reconstructing periodontal defects. We believe it is especially useful to future clinical study and application in this field.