ORIGINAL RESEARCH Effect of Naturally Occurring Biogenic Materials on Human Dental Pulp Stem Cells (hDPSC): an In Vitro Study. Prasanna T. Dahake 1 & Vinod V. Panchal 1 & Yogesh J. Kale 1 & Mahesh V. Dadpe 1 & Shrikant B. Kendre 1 & Vijay M. Kumbar 2 Received: 12 May 2020 /Revised: 24 July 2020 /Accepted: 17 August 2020 # The Regenerative Engineering Society 2020 Abstract Objectives This study aimed to evaluate and compare the cell viability and cell differentiation potential together with the anti- inflammatory potential of coral (Now Foods Calcium Carbonate Powder, HerbsPro, India) and Biodentine™ (Septodont, St- Maur-des-Fosses, Cedex, France) on human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSC). Materials and Methods Human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSC) were segregated and cultured from the dental pulp of healthy teeth undergoing therapeutic extraction. For assessing cell proliferation potential of coral and Biodentine, the agents were taken at a concentration (800, 400, 200, 100, 50 μg/mL) and for cell differentiation potential a concentration of 400 μg/mL respectively. MTT assay was utilized to evaluate proliferation, while differentiation was assessed using Alizarin Red staining. The anti- inflammatory potential of Biodentine and coral was likewise evaluated using gelatin zymography by detecting MMP-2 and MMP-9 matrixin. Results The highest cell proliferation for coral and Biodentine was observed at 200 μg/mL (108.82 ± 2.09% and 107.32 ± 1.04%, respectively), which was statistically significant (p = 0.043), while cell differentiation potential at 400 μg/mL was 127.70 ± 4.26% for coral and 142.96 ± 4.06% for Biodentine. However, anti-inflammatory activity against MMP-2 seen with coral was 68 ± 1.14% and 85.0 ± 3.05 for Biodentine, while against MMP-9 was 30 ± 1.69 for coral and 65 ± 2.74 for Biodentine. Conclusions Coral has comparable potential to enhance proliferation and differentiation of hDPSC into the functional and utilitarian cells like odontoblasts or osteoblast and to harbor anti-inflammatory activity similar to Biodentine. Keywords Anti-inflammatory . Biodentine . Cell differentiation . Cell proliferation . Coral . hDPSC Introduction The dental pulp is occasionally exposed by dental caries, trau- ma, or iatrogenic injury in clinical practice. Untreated pulp or chronic dentinal exposure can cause pulp necrosis in bacterial infections and can undermine the integrity of the tooth struc- ture. Additionally, dental tissues under stress are associated with a high risk of tooth fracture. Indirect pulp capping, direct pulp capping, and partial or full coronal pulpotomy are the conventional enlisted treatment modalities in vital pulp thera- py. Numerous biocompatible materials have been invented and used for vital pulp therapies from the last few years, shifting the operative endodontics paradigm to conservative, preservative, and regenerative modality instead [1]. Calcium silicate-based cement, such as mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA), Biodentine, and Portland cement (PC), has been studied for applications to direct pulp capping [2, 3]. MTA is an alternative to historically used calcium * Prasanna T. Dahake prasannadahake@gmail.com Yogesh J. Kale dryogesh77@yahoo.com Mahesh V. Dadpe drmaheshdadpe@gmail.com Shrikant B. Kendre shri2988@gmail.com Vijay M. Kumbar vijaykumbarbtg@gmail.com 1 Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, MIDSR Dental College and Hospital, Latur, Maharashtra 413512, India 2 Central Research Laboratory, Maratha Mandal’s NGH Institute of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Belgaum, Karnataka 590019, India Regenerative Engineering and Translational Medicine https://doi.org/10.1007/s40883-020-00170-2