Introduction: The main goal of tissue engineering is the reconstruction of living tissues for replacement of damaged or lost tissues and organs in human and animals. Cells and natural or synthetic scaffolds are necessary components required for tissue engineering. Since mesenchymal stem cells have specific characteristics including capability of self renewal, and ability to differentiate into various cell types, they have been used for treatment of spinal cord injuries, myocardial infarction, bone diseases, neurological disorders and skin injuries. Despite many progress in the field of tissue engineering to fabricate skin substitutes, little efforts have been done to use bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells for reconstructing epithelium in vitro. In this study rat s bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells were grown on scaffolds prepared from human gingiva in order to study their differentiation potential towards epithelial cells. Methods: In order to fabricate scaffolds, parts of human gingiva were removed in free gingival operation, were decellularised using sodium dodcyle sulphate (SDS) and Triton X100. After washing and sterilization steps, the scaffolds were cultivated with rat s bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells for 4 weeks. Tissue sections were prepared from scaffolds after 1, 2, and 4 weeks in culture and were studied by histological methods. Result: The microscopic study of the prepared scaffolds revealed that the scaffolds were decellularised properly and their epidermises had remained intact. The study of cultivated scaffolds elucidated that after 1 week in culture, rat s bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells could form a cell layer on present epidermis. Four weeks later, the cells had proliferated and formed several cell layers on the scaffolds, which were similar to epithelium. Conclusion: Rat s bone marrow mesenchymal derived stem cells grown on decellularised human gingival scaffolds could form a structure similar to epithelium. This study indicates that bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells are able to differentiate into keratinocytes and even, they could reconstruct an epithelium-like structure. These scaffolds can be used as a suitable context for studying cell interactions with extracellular matrix.

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