Figure 1.

Study scheme. The pulp tissue removed from extracted teeth was minced and digested cells were seeded under sparse conditions. Colony-forming cells (DPSCs) were collected and seeded under sparse conditions (5 × 10³ cells/cm²) for cell expansion. DPSCs were carefully cultured to maintain their sparsity. Expanded cells (P3–6) were collected and seeded into “sparse” (sDPSCs: 5 × 10³ cells/cm²) and “dense” groups (dDPSCs: 1 × 10⁵ cells/cm²). Following culture for 4 days, cells in both groups were collected and their cell surface markers, multi-differentiation potential, and proliferation were evaluated.