Abstract: Objective To investigate the pluripotency of human gingival fibroblasts (hGFs), and provide a novel cell source for tissue engineering. Methods With informed consent from volunteers, fresh and healthy gingiva were collected. The hGFs were obtained from the gingiva by tissue culture. The third passage of hGFs was cultured in osteogenic medium, chondrogenic medium and adipogenic medium. Cells without differentiation were taken as control. Cells were examined by alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining, Alizarin red staining, Alcian blue staining and oil red O staining for detecting of the ability of differentiation pluripotency. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was applied to examine the expression of osteogenic marker genes ALP, runt-related transcript factor 2 (Runx2), chondrogenic marker aggrecan (AGR) and adipogenic marker peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma 2 (PPARγ2).Results The hGFs cultured in osteogenic medium showed massive violet deposit at day 7 and calcium nodulus at day 28, meanwhile, the expressions of ALP and Runx2 were higher than those of control (P < 0.01). In chondrogenic group cells were found blue deposit at day 14. In adipogenic group lipidfilled droplets stained with oil red O were found in cells at day 14. However, hGFs in control group had no any positive staining. Furthermore, expressions of AGR and PPARγ2 were significantly higher than those of control (P < 0.01). Conclusion Human gingival fibroblasts have the pluripotency of osteogenic, adipogenic and chondrogenic differentiation.

Key words: gingiva, fibroblasts, adipogenesis, cell differentiation, human gingival fibroblasts, osteogenic differentiation, chondrogenic differentiation