Posted on 07/30/2013 10:25:53 AM PDT by Red Badger
Scientists have grown rudimentary teeth out of the most unlikely of sources, human urine.
The results, published in Cell Regeneration Journal, showed that urine could be used as a source of stem cells that in turn could be grown into tiny tooth-like structures.
The team from China hopes the technique could be developed into a way of replacing lost teeth.
Other stem cell researchers caution that that goal faces many challenges.
Teams of researchers around the world are looking for ways of growing new teeth to replace those lost with age and poor dental hygiene.
Stem cells - the master cells which can grow into any type of tissue - are a popular area of research.
The group at the Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health used urine as the starting point.
Cells which are normally passed from the body, such as those from the lining of the body's waterworks, are harvested in the laboratory. These collected cells are then coaxed into becoming stem cells.
A mix of these cells and other material from a mouse was implanted into the animals.
"You just wouldn't do it in this way” Prof Chris Mason University College London
The researchers said that after three weeks the bundle of cells started to resemble a tooth: "The tooth-like structure contained dental pulp, dentin, enamel space and enamel organ."
However, the "teeth" were not as hard as natural teeth.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
I cant think of any reason to use stem cells from urine to grow teeth. Urine is generally considered sterile so the number of any type of cell is low. Interestingly I worked on a project that involved isolating adult stem cells from human fat tissue. There are ~ 1000x more stem cells in fat than in blood. The cells were used in reconstructive surgery for mastectomy patients.
So, they’re just pissing in the wind?............
Japan to start stem-cell study on humans
FReepmail me if you want on or off my stem cell/regenerative medicine ping list.
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