Priming strategies for controlling stem cell fate: Applications and challenges in dental tissue regeneration

Research Overview

Mesenchymal stem cells can be primed before use to boost their therapeutic effect — through culture conditions, mechanical and physical pretreatment, preconditioning with cytokines and growth factors, or genetic modification — and each strategy could improve their performance in dental regenerative medicine.

This review summarizes priming approaches that enhance intrinsic properties such as migration, anti-apoptotic effect, pro-angiogenic potential, and regenerative capacity, and lays out the challenges of current modification methods alongside possible solutions, with the aim of clarifying how priming can improve dental tissue regeneration.