Effects of phytosomal curcumin treatment on modulation of immunomodulatory and pulp regeneration genes in dental pulp mesenchymal stem cells.

Dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) are a new population of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) located in the oral cavity with potential capacities for tissue regeneration and immunomodulation. The purpose from this study was to determine effects of curcumin nanoparticle into phytosomal formulation (PC) on the relative expression of DSPP, VEGF-A, HLA-G5, VCAM1, RelA and STAT3 genes which are among the most important factors influencing processes of immunomodulatory and tissue regenerative by DPSCs. After isolation and culture of DPSCs, these cells were characterized according to predetermined criteria including flow cytometric analysis for detection of the most important cell surface markers and also evaluation of multilineage differentiation potential. Then, the MTT method was employed to check the cell viability in treatment with different concentrations of PC. Following DPSCs' treatment with an optimal-non-toxic dose of this nanoparticle, quantification of expression of target genes was performed using real-time PCR procedure. According to results of immunophenotyping analysis and cell differentiation experiments, the isolated cells were confirmed as MSCs as more than 99% of them expressed specific mesenchymal markers while only about 0.5% of them were positive for hematopoietic marker. The real-time PCR results indicated that PC significantly reduced the expression of RelA, STAT3, VCAM1 and HLA-G5 genes up to many times over while optimally enhanced the expression of DSPP and VEGF-A genes, although this enhance was statistically significant only for VEGF-A (all P < 0.001). The study suggests that PC affects the stemness capabilities of DPSCs and it may facilitate the development of MSCs-based therapeutics in regenerative dentistry.