We present a protocol to develop epithelial organoid cultures starting from human tooth. The organoids are robustly expandable and recapitulate the tooth's epithelial stem cells, including their ameloblast differentiation capacity. The unique organoid model provides a promising tool to study human dental (stem cell) biology with perspectives for tooth-regenerative approaches.
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Method Article
Establishing Organoids from Human Tooth as a Powerful Tool Toward Mechanistic Research and Regenerative Therapy
In This Article
Summary
Abstract
Teeth are of key importance in life not only for food mastication and speech but also for psychological well-being. Knowledge on human tooth development and biology is scarce. In particular, not much is known about the tooth's epithelial stem cells and their function. We succeeded in developing a novel organoid model starting from human tooth tissue (i.e., dental follicle, isolated from extracted wisdom teeth). The organoids are robustly and long-term expandable and recapitulate the proposed human tooth epithelial stem cell compartment in terms of marker expression as well as functional activity. In particular, the organoids are capable to unfold an ameloblast differentiation process as occurring in vivo during amelogenesis. This unique organoid model will provide a powerful tool to study not only human tooth development but also dental pathology, and may pave the way toward tooth-regenerative therapy. Replacing lost teeth with a biological tooth based on this new organoid model could be an appealing alternative to the current standard implantation of synthetic materials.
Introduction
Teeth have essential roles in food mastication, speech, and psychological well-being (self-image). The human tooth consists of highly mineralized tissues of varying density and hardness1. Dental enamel, the main component of the tooth crown, is the highest mineralized tissue in the human body. During enamel formation (amelogenesis), when teeth develop, dental epithelial stem cells (DESCs) differentiate into enamel-forming cells (ameloblasts). Once formed, the enamel is rarely repaired or renewed due to the apoptotic loss of the ameloblasts at the onset of tooth eruption1. Restoration of damaged enamel tissue, as caused b....
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Protocol
All methods described here have been approved by the Ethics Committee Research UZ/KU Leuven (13/0104U). Extracted third molars (wisdom teeth) were obtained after patients' informed consent.
1. Preparations
- Prewarm a 48-well culture plate for 15-20 h in a 1.9% CO2 incubator at 37 °C.
- Liquefy a Matrigel aliquot (growth factor-reduced; phenol red-free; further referred to as basement membrane matrix; BMM) on ice (4 °C) for a minimum of 2 h prior to step 2.1.
NOTE: Avoid freeze/thaw cycles of the BMM. Liquefy the BMM for 15-20 h on ice and aliquot at 1 mL in microcentrifuge ....
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Results
Tooth organoid development
We provide a detailed protocol to establish organoid cultures from human DF tissue acquired following wisdom tooth extraction (Figure 1A). Isolated DF is enzymatically and mechanically dissociated. The obtained cells are cultured within BMM in media that were empirically defined for optimal organoid development and growth (tooth organoid medium; TOM)19.
The organoids typically develop within 2.......
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Discussion
This protocol describes the efficient and reproducible generation of organoids starting from the human tooth. To our knowledge, this is the first methodology for establishing current-concept (epithelial) organoids starting from human dental tissue. The organoids are long-term expandable and display a tooth epithelial stemness phenotype, duplicating DESCs previously reported in the ERM compartment of the DF7. Moreover, the organoids replicate functional DESC/ERM characteristics, including the unfol.......
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Disclosures
The corresponding author ensures that all authors have disclosed any and all conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to all staff members of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (MKA) of UZ Leuven, as well as the patients, for their invaluable help in collecting freshly extracted third molars. We would also like to thank Dr. Reinhilde Jacobs and Dr. Elisabeth Tijskens for their help with the sample collection. This work was supported by grants from KU Leuven (BOF) and FWO-Flanders (G061819N). L.H. is an FWO Ph.D. Fellow (1S84718N).
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Materials
| Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.5 mL Microcentrifuge tube | Eppendorf | 30120.086 | |
| 15 mL Centrifuge tube | Corning | 430052 | |
| 2-Mercaptoethanol | Sigma-Aldrich | M-6250 | |
| 48-well flat bottom plates | Corning | 3548 | |
| 50 mL Centrifuge tube | Corning | 430290 | |
| A83-01 | Sigma-Aldrich | SML0788 | |
| Agarose | Lonza | 50004 | |
| Albumin Bovine (cell culture grade) | Serva | 47330.03 | |
| AMELX antibody | Santa Cruz | sc-365284 | |
| Amphotericin B | Gibco | 15200018 | |
| B27 (without vitamin A) | Gibco | 12587-010 | |
| Cassette | VWR | 7202191 | |
| Catalase from bovine liver | Sigma-Aldrich | C100 | |
| CD44 antibody | Abcam | ab34485 | |
| Cell strainer, 40 µm | Falcon | 352340 | |
| Cholera Toxin | Sigma-Aldrich | C8052 | |
| Citric acid | Sigma-Aldrich | C0759 | |
| CK14 antibody | Thermo Fisher Scientific | MA5-11599 | |
| Collagenase IV | Gibco | 17104-019 | |
| Cover glass | VWR | 6310146 | |
| Cryobox | Thermo Scientific | 5100-0001 | |
| Cryovial | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 375353 | |
| Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) | Sigma-Aldrich | D2650 | |
| Dispase II | Sigma-Aldrich | D4693 | |
| DMEM 1:1 F12 without Fe | Invitrogen | 074-90715A | |
| DMEM powder high glucose | Gibco | 52100039 | |
| Dnase | Sigma-Aldrich | D5025-15KU | |
| Donkey serum | Sigma-Aldrich | D9663 - 10ML | |
| Embedding workstation, 220 to 240 Vac | Thermo Fisher Scientific | 12587976 | |
| Ethanol absolute, ≥99.8% (EtOH) | Fisher Chemical | E/0650DF/15 | |
| Fetal bovine serum (FBS) | Sigma-Aldrich | F7524 | |
| FGF10 | Peprotech | 100-26 | |
| FGF2 (= basic FGF) | R&D Systems | 234-FSE-025 | |
| FGF8 | Peprotech | AF-100-25 | |
| GenElute Mammaliam Total RNA Miniprep Kit | Sigma-Aldrich | RTN350-1KT | Includes 1% β-mercaptoethanol dissolved in lysis buffer |
| Glass Pasteur pipette | Niko Mechanisms | 170-40050 | |
| Glycine | VWR | 101194M | |
| HEPES | Sigma-Aldrich | H4034 | |
| IGF-1 | PeproTech | 100-11 | |
| InSolution Y-27632 (ROCK inhibitor, RI) | Sigma-Aldrich | 688001 | |
| Insulin from bovine pancreas | Sigma-Aldrich | I6634 | |
| ITGA6 antibody | Sigma-Aldrich | HPA012696 | |
| L-Glutamine | Gibco | 25030024 | |
| Matrigel (growth factor-reduced; phenol red-free) | Corning | 15505739 | |
| Microscope slide | Thermo Fisher Scientific | J1800AMNZ | |
| Millex-GV Syringe Filter Unit, 0.22 μm | Millipore | SLGV033R | |
| Minimum essential medium eagle (αMEM) | Sigma-Aldrich | M4526 | |
| mouse IgG (Alexa 555) secondary antibody | Thermo Fisher Scientific | A-31570 | |
| N2 | Gibco | 17502-048 | |
| N-acetyl L-cysteine | Sigma-Aldrich | A7250 | |
| Nicotinamide | Sigma-Aldrich | N0636 | |
| Noggin | PeproTech | 120-10C | |
| P63 antibody | Abcam | ab124762 | |
| Pap Pen | Sigma-Aldrich | Z377821-1EA | Marking pen |
| Paraformaldehyde (PFA), 16% | Merck | 8.18715 | |
| Penicillin G sodium salt | Sigma-Aldrich | P3032 | |
| Penicillin-streptomycin (Pen/Strep) | Gibco | 15140-122 | |
| Petri dish | Corning | 353002 | |
| Phosphate buffered saline (PBS) | Gibco | 10010-015 | |
| Pipette (P20, P200, P1000) | Eppendorf or others | 2231300006 | |
| Plastic transfer pipette (3.5 mL) | Sarstedt | 86.1171.001 | |
| Rabbit IgG (Alexa 488) secondary antibody | Thermo Fisher Scientific | A21206 | |
| RSPO1 | PeproTech | 120-38 | |
| SB202190 (p38i) | Biotechne (Tocris) | 1264 | |
| Scalpel (surgical blade) | Swann-Morton | 207 | |
| SHH | R&D Systems | 464-SH-200 | |
| Silicone molds (Heating block) | VWR | 720-1918 | |
| Sodium Chloride (NaCl) | BDH | 102415K | |
| Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate (NaHCO3) | Merck | 106329 | |
| Sodium-pyruvate (C3H3NaO3) | Sigma-Aldrich | P-5280 | |
| SOX2 antibody | Abcam | ab92494 | |
| StepOnePlus | Thermo Fisher Scientific | Real-Time PCR System | |
| Stericup-GP, 0.22 µm | Millipore | SCGPU02RE | |
| Steriflip-GP Sterile Centrifuge Tube Top Filter Unit, 0.22 μm | Millipore | SCGP00525 | |
| Sterile 1000 μL pipette tips with filter | Greiner | 740288 | |
| Sterile 20 μL pipette tips with filter | Greiner | 774288 | |
| Sterile 200 μL pipette tips with and without filter | Greiner | 739288 | |
| Sterile H2O | Fresenius | B230531 | |
| Streptomycin sulfate salt | Sigma-Aldrich | S6501 | |
| Superscript III first-strand synthesis supermix | Invitrogen | 11752-050 | Reverse transcription kit |
| Tissue processor | Thermo Scientific | 12505356 | |
| Transferrin | Serva | 36760.01 | |
| Triton X-100 | Sigma | T8787-50ML | |
| TrypLE express | Gibco | 12605-010 | |
| Vectashield mounting medium+DAPI | Labconsult NV | H-1200 | Antifade mounting medium with DAPI |
| WNT3a | Biotechne (Tocris) | 5036-WN-500 | |
| Xylenes, 99%, for biochemistry and histology | VWR | 2,89,75,325 |
References
- Yu, T., Klein, O. D. Molecular and cellular mechanisms of tooth development, homeostasis and repair. Development (Cambridge). 147 (2), (2020).
- Arrow, P. Dental enamel defects, caries experience and oral health....
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