Figure 1.

Embryonic origin and multilineage differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs). hDPSCs derive from neural crest stem cells that generate craniomaxillofacial tissues, including the dental pulp. During development, neural crest cells undergo an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and migrate out of the neural tube, to give rise to both mesenchymal and non-mesenchymal cell lineages of the oral cavity, like the neurons and glial cells of the craniofacial PNS. hDPSCs show many neural crest characteristics such as their expression of neural crest markers, and a higher differentiation potential to neural cell lineages than other MSCs.