Scientists Grow Replacement Human Teeth In Mouse Kidneys

sciencehabit writes "When an adult loses a tooth, there's no hope of growing a new one—unless you've got a mouse kidney handy. In a new study, researchers injected human gum tissue extracted during oral surgery into the molars of fetal mice. After giving the cells a week to get used to each other, the scientists implanted the chimeric concoction into the protective tissue surrounding the kidneys of living mice. There, 20% of the cells developed into objects recognizable as teeth, complete with the root structures missing from artificial tooth implants. The next step is to transplant these so-called 'bio-teeth' back into human mouths and see if they grow into something that we can chew on—or rather, with."

Comments

They wash them

[i kan reed]

No need to worry about how gross that sounds, they wash them before putting them in, using a special sterilizing soap grown from a rat's testicles.

Re:They wash them

[tippe]

YOU'RE totally right; my mistake. I noticed the error after I had already posted, but of course by then it was too late to change it. English grammar has never been a strength of mine, although I usually do OK all things considered (French is my primary language). The choice between your/you're and its/it's has always required a conscious decision on my part and does not come naturally to me, and in my rush to post the comment earlier I made that terrible mistake. Sorry that you were so offended by it that you felt the need to reach out and personally attack me. I'll try to be more considerate of your sensitivities in the future...

It sounds good but

[Chrisq]

It sounds good but the instruction was to grow human kidneys in rats teeth. It was a real Do'h moment when the researcher reread his brief!

Re:Why not just grow it in our mouth.

[Mystakaphoros]

My guess is that it's a little easier to euthanize a mouse when something goes horribly, horribly wrong.

Difficulties

[teethdood]

I am a dentist One of the benefits cited in the fine article is that the kidney-grown tooth structures more closely resemble a real tooth with a physical root. The root system of a tooth is much more complex than just its physical shape. Within a tooth socket, you have the periodontal ligament surrounding the root separating the jaw bone from the root. Then you have the root itself with cementum layer, dentin layer, then pulp. Even if we were to be able to grow a tooth outside the mouth, it doesn't mean all the necessary structures are there. When transplanting a grown tooth, you're faced with several obstacles: 1) Bone socket must be created to the exactly fit the tooth 2) Creating the periodontal ligament to provide cushion, natural tooth movements, and the ability to extract that tooth without it fusing to the bone 3) The pulp tissue needs to be connected somehow to the nerve and blood systems, otherwise you would have to do a root canal to remove the pulp 4) The morphology of the crown portion above the gum needs to be correct, meaning the tooth needs a crown So, while being able to induce cells to grown into something that looks like a tooth is a step forward, at this point it is far from a viable treatment option versus a titanium implant which has a known shape/diameter/length. The golden ticket is when we can induce mesenchymal stem cells to grow into a tooth directly in the jaw (hopefully with the correct morphology due to its position next to adjacent teeth as well).