Investigation of orofacial stem cell niches and their innervation through microfluidic devices
1 Orofacial Development and Regeneration, Institute of Oral Biology, Centre for Dental Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
2 INEB – Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
3 FMUP – Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
4 ICBAS – Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
Abstract
Stem cell-based mediated therapies represent very promising approaches for tissue regeneration and are already applied with success in clinics. These therapeutic approaches consist of thein vitromanipulation of stem cells and their consequent administration to patients as living and dynamic biological agents. Nevertheless, the deregulation of stem cells function might result in the generation of pathologies such as tumours or accelerated senescence. Moreover, different stem cells sources are needed for regeneration of specific tissues. It is thus fundamental to understand the mechanisms regulating the physiology of stem cells. Microfluidic technology can be used to mimicin vivoscenarios and allow the study of stem cell physiology at both single cell and whole stem cell niche levels.This review focuses on the potential sources of stem and progenitor cells for orofacial regeneration and the use of microfluidic technologies for the study of stem cells behaviour and stem cell niches, in the light of regenerative medicine.
Keywords
- Microfluidics
- stem cells
- stem cell niches
- orofacial regeneration
- tooth
- innervation
- trigeminal ganglia
- regenerative medicine
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