Ameloblasts serum-free conditioned medium: bone morphogenic protein 4-induced odontogenic differentiation of mouse induced pluripotent stem cells

Induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells possess the ability of self-renewal and can differentiate into cells of the three germ layers, both in vitro and in vivo. Here we report a new method to efficiently induce differentiation of mouse iPS cells into the odontogenic lineage. Using ameloblasts serum-free conditioned medium (ASF–CM), we successfully generated ameloblast-like cells from mouse iPS cells. Importantly, culturing mouse iPS cells in ASF–CM supplemented with BMP4 (ASF–BMP4) promoted odontogenic differentiation, which was evident by the upregulation of ameloblast-specific as well as odontoblast-specific genes. On the other hand, culturing mouse iPS cells in ASF–CM supplemented with noggin (ASF–noggin), an inhibitor of BMP4, abrogated this effect. These results suggest that mouse iPS cells can be induced by ASF–BMP4 to differentiate into ameloblast-like and odontoblast-like cells. The results of our study raise the possibility of using patient-specific iPS cells for tooth regeneration in the future. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.