Bone production by human maxillary sinus mucosa cells

The Schneider membrane is the mucosa that covers the inner part of the maxillary sinus cavities. The free surface is a ciliated pseudostratified epithelium, while the deeper portion is a highly vascularized connective tissue. The stromal fraction, bordering the bony wall of the sinus, after tooth loss can exhibit increased osteoclastic activity resulting in resorption of the bone in the posterior maxilla. Goal of our study was to isolate and characterize mesenchymal progenitors in the Schneider's membrane connective net and to evaluate their self ability to differentiate toward osteoblastic lineage, in absence of osteoinductive factors and osteoconductive biomaterials of support. This should indicate that maxillary sinus membrane represents an useful an approachable source of MSCs for bone tissue engineering and cell therapy and owns the intrinsic capacity to restore maxillary bone after tooth loss without the needing of biomaterials. J. Cell. Physiol. 227: 3278–3281, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.