Fig. 1

Co-treatment of BMP2 and BMP4 promotes the expression of odontoblast marker genes in hDPCs by induction of odontogenic cytodifferentiation. A Expression patterns of odontogenic and osteogenic markers by treatment with various cytokines. hDPCs were treated with 100 ng/ml FGF2 and 50 ng/ml TGFβ-1 (FGF+TGF), 100 ng/ml BMP2 (BMP2), 100 ng/ml BMP4 (BMP4), or 100 ng/ml BMP2 and 100 ng/ml BMP4 (BMP2+4). No treatment sample was indicated as con. B Comparison of expression patterns of odontogenic and osteogenic markers in between odontoblast-like cells (a) and osteoblasts (b) by co-treatment with BMP2 and BMP4. hDPC, human dental pulp cells no-treated with BMPs; hDPC+BMPs, human dental pulp cells co-treated with BMPs; pre-hFOB, human fetal osteoblasts grown at 34 °C; hFOB, human fetal osteoblasts grown at 39 °C for induction of osteo-maturation. C Osteogenic/dentinogenic maturation efficiency is enhanced in hDPCs treated with BMP2 and BMP4. To induce mineral formation, cells were cultured in media containing mineralization additives for the indicated time, following BMPs treatment. Mineral formation on the cell surfaces was investigated by alizarin red S staining (a) under the microscope and was quantified as optical density at 405 nm (b). −BMPs/−Additives, hDPCs untreated; −BMPs/+Additives, hDPCs incubated in media containing mineralization additives; +BMPs/−Additives, hDPCs treated with BMPs for odontogenic differentiation; +BMPs/+Additives, hDPCs incubated in media containing mineralization additives following BMPs treatment. Bar graphs represented the mean of three independent experiments ± SD. Statistical data were analyzed by Student’s t test, and asterisk indicated the significant difference. ***, P < 0.001; **, P < 0.01; *, P < 0.05; ns, not significant