Background: Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) including embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer the immense therapeutic potential in stem cell-based therapy of degenerative disorders. However, clinical trials of human ESCs cause heavy ethical concerns. With the derivation of iPSCs established by reprogramming from adult somatic cells through the transgenic expression of transcription factors, this problems would be able to overcome. In the present study, we tried to differentiate porcine iPSCs (piPSCs) into endothelial cells (ECs) for stem cell-based therapy of vascular diseases. Methods: piPSCs (OSKMNL) were induced to differentiation into ECs in four differentiation media (APEL-2, APEL-2 + 50 ng/mL of VEGF, EBM-2, EBM-2 + 50 ng/ mL of VEGF) on cultured plates coated with matrigel® (1:40 dilution with DMEM/F-12 medium) for 8 days. Differentiation efficiency of these cells were exanimated using qRT-PCR, Immunocytochemistry, Western blotting and FACS. Results: As results, expressions of pluripotency-associated markers (OCT-3/4, SOX2 and NANOG) were higher observed in all porcine differentiated cells derived from piPSCs (OSKMNL) cultured in four differentiation media than piPSCs as the control, whereas endothelial-associated marker (CD-31) in the differentiated cells was not expressed. Conclusions: It can be seen that piPSCs (OSKMNL) were not suitable to differentiate into ECs in the four differentiation media unlike porcine epiblast stem cells (pEpiSCs). Therefore, it would be required to establish a suitable PSCs for differentiating into ECs for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

The mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that reside in dental tissues hold a great potential for future applications in regenerative dentistry. In this study, we used human dental pulp cells, isolated from the molars (DPCs), in order to establish the organoid culture. DPCs were established after growing pulp cells in an MSC expansion media (MSC-EM). DPCs were subjected to organoid growth media (OGM) in comparison with human dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). Inside the extracellular matrix in the OGM, the DPCs and DPSCs readily formed vessel-like structures, which were not observed in the MSC-EM. Immunocytochemistry analysis and flow cytometry analysis showed the elevated expression of CD31 in the DPCs and DPSCs cultured in the OGM. These results suggest endothelial cell-prone differentiation of the DPCs and DPSCs in organoid culture condition.